Chasing A Far Away Dream
by Hikaru Mitsukai
Summary: Higurashi Kagome was very close to her father, until he died that is. Now moved from her home in Onoda to the busy city of Tokyo, can Kagome's wish to find happiness again come true? When south meets north, what calamities will ensue? IK, MS, SR
1. Default Chapter

Hikaru Mitsukai: If you people actually thought for one second that you had seen the last of me, then you are sadly mistaken my dears, because this fire angel does not shut down shop that easily. Ha. Although, if I do say so myself, my CCS fic did kinda suck. ^_^;; And once again with the help of my beta-writer Lady Saikyou, I shall set off on this road to Fanfiction.net's finest, and hopefully, I'll make it onto someone's Favourite's list ^_^  
  
Disclaimer: I am poor, so there is no way in hell I own the idea of Inuyasha. No that one belongs to the lovely lady of manga, none other than Ms. Rumiko Takahashi, whom I aspire to be like someday. *_* My heroine.  
  
Chasing A Far Away Dream  
  
Chapter 1: The Sad Blue Eyes  
  
She couldn't understand it. Even though she knew it was for the better, she couldn't understand why. Why they had to move from their home in cozy little Onoda to live in the large noisy city of Tokyo. 'I guess there are just some things I will never understand, right otou-san?' she thought as she looked to the sky. The car ride had been silent the entire time and it was beginning to make her rather nervous.  
  
"So, okaa-san, which school am I going to go to again?" the raven-haired teen asked her mother in an attempt to break the silence. The woman merely sighed and paused as if thinking of an answer for the question addressed to her. "The Natsuki Watanabe High School, Kagome, you know, the one your father went to?"  
  
She sighed and nodded her head, an indication that she was only listening and not really thinking about it. There was no complaining, no tears, no screaming, no nothing, and this frightened Mrs. Higurashi a little. Her daughter was slowly dwindling away in front of her eyes, and there was little or nothing she could do about it; nothing she could do or say to stop it.  
  
They pulled up in the driveway of a shrine with an old man sweeping away furiously at the petal littered ground. Upon hearing the car tyres grind the dirt on the ground, he looked up with a scowl, which changed into a smile suddenly as he watched his daughter-in-law, and her children hop out of the car.  
  
"Ah, Nadeshiko, my dear how are you?" he asked dropping the broom on the ground as he took the woman who was not much taller than himself into a tight embrace. The young boy looked around with wide eyes while the girl just glanced around half-heartedly. She had always loved coming to this place, with its fairy like appearance in a place as noisy and busy as Tokyo. Time seemed to stop and all sound ceased, but back then, her father was still alive.  
  
~*Flashback*~  
  
A 5 year-old girl with bright blue eyes and raven-black hair ran in circles while being chased by a man who had the same physical qualities as herself. Her childish laughter filled the air as her mother looked on, watching with a gentle smile on her face. This was one of the many activities of the Higurashi family when they visited grandfather, an old man obsessed with the Sengoku Jidai and its many legends.  
  
Time seemed to go by slowly, but at the same time, quickly as well. Without a care in the world, that was how life was meant to be lived. Eventually, the man caught up with the little girl and began to tickle her mercilessly, causing more childish laughter to spill from her mouth, as the woman could no longer help herself; she had to join the fun.  
  
So there the two adults stood, tickling the girl with huge grins painted on their faces as the old man took a picture and smiled. That was how a family was supposed to be...happy.  
  
~*End of Flashback*~  
  
"Souta, Kagome, how are you doing?" the man suddenly asked, snapping Kagome out of her reminiscing. Souta shrugged and Kagome stared of into space, her interest suddenly taken by the street. This didn't go unnoticed, but everyone decided that they would be better off if they talked about it after they had all washed up and rested.  
  
Souta ran up the stairs to investigate his new room with a boyish interest that you couldn't help but admire if you considered his situation. Nadeshiko was a bit pleased by this, but still, she couldn't forget about her daughter, who had just plopped down in front of the television and turned it on, only to stare at the street every once and a while.  
  
Leaving Onoda was hard for everyone, but Kagome took it the hardest, after all, it was their home they were leaving behind, but for the older of the Higurashi children, it wasn't the house, or even the people, but it was the memories, the places she had been, the things she had done, or hadn't done, the things she ate and just about everything she had experienced with her father. The man with the immortal smile.  
  
Her distress now reaching its peak, Mrs. Higurashi did the only thing she could think of; get Kagome out of the house. 'It would be a perfect opportunity to get reacquainted with the environment and see new people.' She reassured herself mentally with this thought as she gathered up the courage to stop what she was doing, which was cutting some onions, and turn to her depressed daughter.  
  
"Kagome-chan?"  
  
The girl looked up at the person who was addressing her with both her eyebrows raised slightly and a faint "Hm?" to acknowledge that she was being spoken to by someone. She was obviously somewhere on the road to recovery if she was to do something that familiar and close to her old self.  
  
"It looks like grandpa doesn't have enough oden, or leek for that matter, do you mind running down to the store to get me some?"  
  
Removing her feet from the coffee table in front of her, Kagome got up and walked over to where her mother was rummaging in her purse for some money to give to her. The woman handed over the money and smiled to express her gratitude. Much to her enjoyment and surprise, Kagome smiled back, although it was nothing compared to her heart-warming grins, but it was enough to please the distraught woman. Maybe there was hope after all.  
  
~**~**~  
  
A group of four teens walked down the crowded streets on their way to God- knows-where. The eldest of them walked in front, his clawed hands jammed into his pockets for no apparent reason. His silver hair trailed aimlessly behind him and his golden-amber eyes were half open, part of his whole look of indifference, but behind his mask he was lonely. To him the crescent moon on his forehead didn't serve as a marker that told everyone that he was the son of the wealthiest man/youkai in all of Japan, it just served as a reminder of how incomplete he was, a half of a man. He was lonely, and his brother was too.  
  
His brother was more fortunate than he was, for he did not have the symbol of his incompleteness on his forehead for any and everyone to see. But his brother was even worse off, for he did not even realise that he was incomplete, and he just kept trying to fill that space with material things like fast cars, clothes and women. How unfortunate. He probably didn't even realise that he was wearing a mask, one that had managed to hide the truth from its own wearer, and that the gap he was trying futilely to fill could only be filled with one thing. The one thing that had the power to fill a space that large or that deep. The one thing that kept eluding him even though he wasn't trying to catch it. That thing was love. The amazing power of love. *  
  
~**~**~  
  
Kagome walked down the street, her aura parading the sadness that welled inside of her. It was so depressing in fact, that anyone that passed her just looked back with a look of pity at the blue-eyed girl who had just walked past them with her head down; her black bangs covering her face. All time seemed to have stopped for her, so that her mourning could last forever. Everything seemed to stop in her wake, everything except for the group of teens coming her way that is.  
  
The one in front seemed to have noticed her presence while the other three just chattered away happily not noticing a thing that was going on. As she neared him, he stopped; his mouth opened slightly as if he wanted to say something to her but forgot the words. His brow furrowed slightly in concern. If she didn't look where she was going soon, she would bump into his brother, who wasn't famous for keeping his tongue on a short leash.  
  
It was too late to do or say anything as she kept walking straight, and straight into the shoulder of a very arrogant hanyou. As she passed, she only caught a glimpse of the first four people from Tokyo she had seen besides her grandfather.  
  
The one in the back was presumably the oldest, and he looked at her with eyes of a golden-amber colour; the streaks on his face and the crescent moon on his forehead affirmed what she first thought when she saw his silver hair; he was a youkai. The next one was a female who, oddly, looked exactly like her, except with a pair of stormy grey eyes.  
  
The third person was male, and he had a short ponytail and three earrings in total, two in one ear, and one in the next. He had dark violet eyes and was staring at someone next to him with wide eyes. This caught her attention and in curiosity, she looked to her right and her gaze was caught and held by a pair of golden-amber eyes much like the first, except the face that went with them wasn't as thoughtful as the first person she saw.  
  
On the contrary, this person was mad, down right pissed actually. She studied the person for a while, and her eyes sited a pair of fuzzy white triangles sitting on top of this male's head. They were absolutely adorable and she would have reached out and touched them, but she never got the chance.  
  
"Why don't you watch where you're going, wench?!" he bellowed, making everyone stop dead in their tracks. How would she respond? That was the question on everyone's minds at that time. If she was herself, she would've given him a piece of her mind, but this time, she didn't care to respond. His words just washed over her and then disappeared, like they had never existed.  
  
The girl just stood there staring at him with her lifeless blue orbs. They were a beautiful shade of blue, he had to admit, but they would've been a lot more beautiful if they hadn't been so empty. So emotionless. But he couldn't be bothered about eyes right now; he had to make this girl understand that you do not cross the Nemura Inuyasha. Her silence was making him impatient, and he would probably snap if he didn't get her to say something soon.  
  
"Well? I'm waiting." He growled to show her that he meant business, but he still got no response. He was even beginning to question if she was even alive. She just kept on staring at him with those empty blue eyes, as if she was the one waiting for an answer. This was starting to get on his nerves, but what she did next, he would never forget...  
  
She walked away from him.  
  
No apology. No response. No nothing. It was almost as if she couldn't say anything, but for some reason, he knew she could. Murmurs broke out as she walked away. That girl had the audacity to walk away from him after bumping into him, but he didn't feel the least bit angry. All he could feel was sympathy towards the girl with the sad blue eyes.  
  
~**~**~  
  
Kagome crawled into her bed. Staring at the ceiling, she thought back onto the day she had, when she heard a soft mewing from somewhere beside her. When she pulled up the sheets, she saw a kitten with large red-orange eyes and two tails staring back up at her.  
  
"Kirara? What are you doing here?" "Mew." "You know that Sango is going to kill when she finds out that you're here." "Mew." "Well, might as well enjoy yourself before she comes for you." She began to scratch behind the kitten's ears, making it purr softly. She thought of all the people she had left behind: Rin, Sango, Hojo and Kohaku. Her friends. Then with a sigh, she thought of the people she ran into earlier: the youkai, her look-a-like, the violet-eyed boy and the hanyou. For some reason, she smiled at the thought of the hanyou. He was very handsome, and his beautiful silver hair, golden-amber eyes and furry triangular ears just added to his exotic beauty. From what she had gathered, he wasn't one to be known for manners, but that wasn't important to her. She peered out at the crescent moon, and began to drift off to sleep; her thoughts were of a boy with fierce golden- amber eyes.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
*The person being referred to in this chapter is Inuyasha.  
  
Hikaru M.: Well, this is my first attempt at an Inuyasha AU so don't kill me please. And don't worry if I accidentally made it sound as though Sess had a thing for Kag, because he doesn't, or does he?. This is the first fic I have written after my failed CCS fic. I'm still feeling the flames from that one. *winces at the thought* So anyway, with my lovely beta writer Saikyou, who will make me bend over backwards until I get my crap in order, I shall proceed with this fic, and I myself am chasing a faraway dream...I'm hoping I actually get I reviews this time around.  
  
Next Chapter: Welcome to Chaos High 


	2. Welcome To Chaos High

Hikaru Mitsukai: Well, here I am, again. If you're thinking that I sound kinda down, you're right, my exams are starting tomorrow, but for you lovely people at fanfiction, I finished up my second chapter, and I have to admit something. I really didn't know what was going to happen in this chapter, it's part of this phenomenon that I have now termed "Spontaniata Fingata" more commonly known as spontaneous fingers. My chapters might take long to come out because my computer refuses to let me use the Internet (Bad Eriol-chan), so I use my next-door neighbour's/cousin's Internet access. But enough of my useless chatter and on with the story...  
  
Disclaimer: Must I do this for every chapter? sighs here goes, I don't own Inuyasha, although I wish I did, and I am so poor that I don't even have any of the merchandise, and the one book of manga I do have was a Christmas present. So suing me won't do any good...  
  
Chasing A Far Away Dream  
  
Chapter 2: Welcome to Chaos High  
  
The sun shone brightly on that fine day, the day that Kagome had to go to school in a new school. She didn't look remotely bothered although everyone thought that she was probably on the brink of tears inside. It was now Monday and in a new city, with a new life, a new school and a new attitude, she decided that nothing else would go better with that than a pair of brand new...shoes? Ever since that trip to the grocery store on Saturday, she seemed a whole lot better; almost as good as she was when her father was still alive. She regained most of her fire, her passion, the things that made and defined Higurashi Kagome. The girl with the fiery passion.  
  
The car ride had been so cheerful compared to the one that brought them to Tokyo. With Kagome practically fully recovered from the sting of her father's death, and Souta brimming to the top with his boyish charm, what more could Mrs. Higurashi ask for?  
Kagome's new school loomed into view and then all noise was drained from the family car. The school building was huge and spanking clean. There were so many students, it was hard to keep track as each wave of students seemed to be replaced by another in the blink of an eye.  
  
She instantly knew why she was here. At birth, it had been discovered that she had holy powers, thus making her a miko. She trained with her father, who had been trained at that renowned institute, so she at least had a rough idea of how to keep her powers in check, although, actually using them was a different story.  
  
Sure, she knew all about channeling her miko power through the arrow...in theory. She would've learned how to actually do it if her father hadn't taken sick. Stupid cancer, always ruining somebody's parade. Well, there's no time like the present to learn, right?  
  
Kagome got out of the car and waved her family goodbye before taking a deep breath and walking up to the large stone steps. No sooner had she gotten to the door, silence engulfed the crowd and then murmurs broke out. Everyone started to whisper to their neighbor who nodded their heads and then confirmed whatever had been said. She knew that this was bound to happen, but our dear Kagome had yet to figure out that this had something she did (or didn't do rather) on a certain trip to the grocery store.  
  
Having been privately orientated on the Sunday, she prided herself on knowing where to go. She made her way over to her locker and began to put books inside it, when she felt a hand firmly planted on her behind. At first she stiffened in shock, then a blush crept across her face. She had never had this kind of bodily contact before because the folks in Onoda were kind enough to keep their hands to themselves and they never were that bold either. Damn Tokyo lechers.  
  
After not moving for a couple of minutes, she turned around and stared into a pair of dark violet eyes. It was one of the guys from Saturday. He smiled seductively at her and as a response; she went into the fight-or-flight mode and decided that at that moment in time, it would be a better time for flight. She jumped to her right and hit into something hard like a wall, except it was breathing. 'Breathing? What the...walls don't breathe!' she told herself as someone's hot breath twirled the hairs near her ear.  
  
She turned her head and found herself looking at the person's neck. She looked past the jaw and stared into a pair of fierce golden-amber eyes again. Would they be destined to meet like this all the time? That was something to ponder on later, at the moment, she was staring into the eyes of a very pissed hanyou.  
  
She heard him growl and then decided that it would be smart to remove herself from his person and jumped backwards, where she hit into yet another solid form. Was this the way that people in Tokyo met each other? Because if it was, she had a few million more to run into. 'Life never gets tired of playing jokes on me.' she thought as she turned to see another neck. This time, she looked up into a pair of icy blue eyes attached to the face of a person who didn't seem to mind her presence on his body.  
  
Her eye twitched as she scoped out her situation: two perverts and a killer in the making, now that is an interesting combination. She was about to leave this scary triangle when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, pressing her closer against the owner's body, which was undoubtedly the boy with the blue eyes. He resting his chin on her forehead and began to hug her very tightly.  
  
He sighed and looked down at her smiling, which for some unknown reason sent chills down her spine.  
  
"You are perfect." he said in a contented voice, hugging her like a little child would a teddy bear except with a much more murderous grip. This statement more than confused Kagome as she tried to piece it together, obviously not getting anywhere.  
  
"Perfect? Perfect for what?" was her simple reply to his statement. What he said next, was but the icing on the cake of her already horrifying day. It was just one surprise after another, first the lecher, then the future serial killer, but what he said, just took said iced cake.  
  
"Perfect for what?" he screeched as if it was the most stupid question he ever heard; as if the answer was ever so obvious. She looked to the faces surrounding her for clues, but they were of no help. The hanyou just rolled his eyes and looked away and the lecher was just giving the offending boy a Would-you-drop-dead-already? look. "I'll tell you what you're perfect for. You're perfect for being my woman. Mine and only mi..."  
  
"WHAAAT?!" she yelled into his face. Yup, there is no way in hell that the men in Onoda were as...straight forward as the ones in Tokyo. At least they knew what they wanted, but this was just insane.  
  
"ARE YOU INSANE? I JUST GET HERE AND YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST UP AND CLAIM ME AS YOUR WOMAN? JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"  
  
He smirked at her question and let her go. Her eye was twitching horribly now and it was just funny to watch many of the passers-by had decided. Even the hanyou and the lecher were just waiting to see her reaction when he answered her question.  
  
The surrounding crowd was silent with anticipation as he ran a hand through his long black hair. He opened his eyes and looked into his woman's eyes, his smirk growing wider with each passing second.  
  
"My name is Nakajima Kouga, son of the great business youkai Nakajima Shisou."  
  
Kagome seemed unmoved by his little introduction. By the looks of it, she looked absolutely clueless, with her eyebrow raised and a look that just said And-you-are...?  
  
"This helps me...how?"  
  
Everyone was shocked, but not as shocked as Kouga was right then. The look on his face was priceless. His eyes were bulging out of their sockets and his mouth was slightly open; obviously it had to be a big deal if it managed to get that sort of reaction. 'Really, people here are so stupid. All I did was ask him how it helps and he's acting as if I asked him if he was a guy or not.' she thought to herself, finally aware of all the pairs of eyes on her. They all had the same expression as Kouga's.  
  
She looked back to Kouga and realized that his facial expression had changed from one of complete shock to one of outrage. He flicked some of his shiny black hair off of his shoulder, and then she realized something. He wasn't glaring at her, no, he couldn't be, because his eyes were looking at someone behind her, and that someone was laughing their head off.  
  
Turning her head in the direction that everyone was now looking, she saw the hanyou laughing hysterically, tears rolling down his cheeks as his hearty laughter filled the air. Soon, the lecher started to snicker, and then joined the hanyou on the ground rolling around and clutching his stomach. The crowd also began laughing, either at the two on the ground or the one who was glaring at them.  
  
Kouga turned and stomped off, calling out for someone to follow. Kagome followed Kouga with her eyes and then saw a girl with long silver hair and golden-amber eyes and a pair of furry triangles on top of her head smiling at her. Kouga stopped and turned to stare at the girl who was smiling at Kagome.  
  
"I said come woman, are you deaf?!" he barked out to the girl. She blushed slightly when she realized that she was being addressed and ran to Kouga's side. He rolled his eyes, shook his head and started off again, this time with the girl by his side. She looked back, and waved at Kagome, who waved back at the smiling girl, who in turn gave Kagome an even bigger smile.  
  
'She's a hanyou, just like that guy that I ran into on Saturday. I wonder if they're related. Maybe I'll ask her when I see her again. Yeah, I'll do that.' She turned to look at the hanyou and the lecher, who were now getting up off the ground. They wiped the tears from their eyes and broke into another laughing fit, earning them a few strange looks.  
  
The bell rang and one by one, the crowd began to thin. Kagome decided that it would be best if she was not late for her first homeroom and left as well. After a few minutes of struggling to remember where to go, she finally found her homeroom.  
  
She pushed the door open a looked in, everyone was busy talking to the people around them to notice her presence. Stepping in, she had the feeling that she was being watched, and turned to her right to stare into the eyes of the smiling hanyou.  
  
"Ohayo. You must be the new girl." Her voice was very soft as if she was afraid of being overheard. Yup, the people in Tokyo were very interesting.  
  
"Hai, I'm Higurashi Kagome, who are you?"  
"I'm Inori Kati, but my friends call me Ki-chan for short."  
"Don't you mean _Kouga-sama_ calls you Ki-chan, because the last time I checked, you didn't have any friends in this school." Kagome watched as Kitai closed her eyes and clenched her fists, making her knuckles white. She took deep calming breaths before responding.  
  
"Can it Kikyo." A shrill and cocky laugh came as a reply to her demand.  
"Make me, _Ki-chan_. Or will you call Kouga-sama for me?"  
"I said can it."  
"And I said, make me half breed."  
  
That last comment really did the trick as Kitai's eyes flew open, about to respond when the sensei walked in. Obviously, this was very normal if the sensei stared straight past Kagome and Kitai and into a pair of cold stormy eyes. He sighed and immediately began to rub his temples to alleviate the impending migraine.  
  
"Kikyo, must you start this so early in the morning?" he asked, but received no response, just a cold glare. She huffed and stormed off, but not before Kagome could catch a glimpse of her face. With eerily identical features to her own, she smartly concluded that this was the same look-a-like from Saturday.  
  
The sensei shook his head and walked to his desk in the front of the class, and began to clear his throat. The class immediately became silent. 'He must be something if they shut up because he cleared his throat. Probably a strict disciplinarian, or something like that.' she thought and nodded to herself in agreement.  
  
He stood up and smiled, bringing some youth back to his features. His salt and pepper hair was messy but orderly at the same time, as if every disorderly strand had a specific place and they couldn't move no matter how much he did. His dark brown eyes were currently closed as he addressed his form.  
  
"Today, we have a new student," he turned to her and smiled, "would you like to give us a little information about yourself?"  
  
Obviously, he wasn't asking her for her opinion, which seemed unfortunate as she took a few steps forward then turned to face her new classmates. She immediately spotted Kitai who was giving her that infectious smile, seemingly recovered from the brawl that had ended a couple of minutes ago. This silent encouragement gave her the courage to open her mouth and speak.  
  
"My name is Higurashi Kagome. I'm 15 years-old and I just moved here from Onoda in Hiroshima." She turned to the sensei who nodded approvingly at her short and simple introduction. At least she wasn't the type who loved to blab on about themselves like most of his students.(a/n: coughcoughKikyocoughcough)  
  
"Domo arigatou for that lovely short introduction of yourself Ms. Higurashi, you will be seated behind Inori Kitai. Kitai, please raise your hand for Ms. Higurashi. Domo."  
  
Kagome quickly seated herself behind her newfound friend and began to take notes in one of her least favourite classes: math.  
  
Kagome quickly jogged to her English class. Up 'till now, she still had no idea why she had to do English with a bunch of 17 year-olds, but, then again, life had a really funny sense of humour when it came to her.  
  
She entered the classroom and looked around and found a seat. So far so good, you're probably thinking right? It would've been, if the only seat not taken was nestled snugly between the lecher and Kouga and right in front of the hanyou. Life just keeps getting better for this girl, doesn't it?  
  
The sensei walked in and everyone went to their seat, that's when her presence was finally acknowledged.  
  
"Ah, Kagome-chan, how are you?" a voice to her left asked suddenly.

"Gah! How, do you know my name?"

"I have my ways Kag-chan. But enough about that, let's talk about our plans for the future."  
  
'Plans for the future? What is it with this guy?' she thought, as she smiled nervously at Kouga, who was grinning seductively at her. Thankfully, the sensei came to her rescue.  
  
"Class, today, we have a new student. Her name is Higurashi Kagome if I remember correctly," She turned to look at the slightly disturbed Kagome and continued, "am I right dear?"  
  
Kagome nodded weakly and mumbled a faint "Hai, sensei." The sensei clapped her hands happily and beamed at the girl.  
  
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, you'd have to be very good at English to be doing it at this level. So I was wondering," she said as she began to speak in English instead of Japanese, "if you could say a few lines in English for us so that I can assess your skill in order to teach you properly. So, what do you think?"  
  
Kagome grinned and started in perfect English that stunned everyone in the class.  
  
"Why, I'd love to Ms. ..."  
"Horibuchi, dear, Ms. Horibuchi." She squealed in delight at how well versed Kagome was with the English language. This was the best thing to happen in her life since she got married. And that was twenty years ago.  
  
"Yes, well, as I was saying Ms. Horibuchi, I'd be happy to."  
  
The woman beamed at Kagome with tears in her eyes; she was just that happy. She wiped away her tears, and put her hand over her mouth trying to think of what to figure of this 15 yr-old who was so well versed with the English language.  
  
"Oh my, Inuyasha my dear, it seems that Kagome may be better in English than you are."  
  
Kagome heard a soft "Keh." behind her and she turned to look at the person seated behind her, which was of course the hanyou Inuyasha. He closed his eyes and smirked, his arms folded across his chest and his feet up on his desk.  
  
"It's a pity she won't be able to put that English to use." He opened his eyes and stared at the girl who resembled his good friend Kikyo. He remembered the run in with her on Saturday, and judging by the sparkle in her eye, she was feeling much better.  
  
He really wanted to know what could make one person so sad, and then make them so happy right afterwards. 'Who cares how she got better, the point is she's...better...right? What the fuck is wrong with me? Who cares about some wench and her fucking mood swings? Keh, damn wench.' he thought as he stared into those beautiful blue orbs that belonged to the girl standing in front if him.  
  
Kagome cocked her head to a side in confusion while Inuyasha continued to glare at her. He was scowling, but his aura seemed to be indecisive, as if wondering what to think of her. She was pretty much unaware that all eyes were on her, and that Horibuchi-sensei was asking her what was wrong, because all her attention was focused on the pair of golden-amber eyes she was beginning to get lost in. But she decided that even though he had beautiful eyes, that didn't give him the right to burn holes in her.  
  
"Is your face stuck like that, or is there a problem?" she asked in a cold tone. His eyes narrowed slightly, but he gave no reply. He just continued to stare into her eyes, which had called for his unwavering attention.  
  
He secretly admired the way they sparkled and shone, much like those of a young child. And they weren't just the same shade of blue all over, but seemed to have different shades in strategic points, if you could call them that, giving them a sense of depth and understanding. That's when he realised that he was staring into the eyes of a caring person.  
  
Kagome inwardly frowned when he didn't respond to her question, but just kept staring at her, as if he was trying to see into her soul with those miniature suns he had for eyes. She didn't mind really, she just wished that she hadn't snapped at him the way she did. His eyes never moved and he never blinked, he just focused on one point of her face, which she realized to be her eyes.  
  
Eyes are supposed to be the windows to the soul, right? So what if those windows could be closed? These were the thoughts that ran through Kagome's mind at that moment, as she looked Inuyasha in the eye, keeping rather long eye contact. His eyes seemed to convey a sense of secrecy, as if he were carrying around a huge burden, which he didn't want anyone to know of. It was easily sensed in his aura. You could see it in the way he acted. His problem was his, and his alone. The boy with the unsolvable problem.  
  
"You might want to sit down." he said suddenly, startling her. He was no longer scowling, but his face wasn't exactly one that belonged to a caring person. She blushed when she realized that she had been staring, and then realized that everyone was looking at her, causing her face to become a deep scarlet colour.  
  
"Now Mr. Nemura, if you could please refrain from starting staring contests, I will begin with my lesson."  
"Keh."  
"Domo, now in today's lesson...." Her voice began to trail off as Kagome continued to think of those golden-amber eyes, blushing indiscreetly as she tried futilely to pay attention in class.  
  
Kagome looked around in search of a place to eat her lunch, when she spotted a huge oak tree, not too far from where she was standing. She walked over, but what she didn't know was that someone in the tree was watching her with their fierce golden-amber eyes.  
  
"This looks like a good spot," she commented to no one in particular, "it has a lot of shade and the grass isn't too bad." She shrugged and sat down next to one of the protruding branches, taking out her lunch box and leaning back onto the tough bark of the tree.  
  
Kagome thought back on the day so far: she made one friend, two perverted admirers and one enemy, or at least she thought so. She wasn't really sure about the enemy part; she was really confused about the way he acted towards her. One minute he was angry with her, the next he had an attitude of indifference.  
  
With a weary sigh, she began to eat her lunch when someone approached her. Someone sat down right next to Kagome, their bright aura lighting up the already tired Kagome. Turning her head slightly, she noticed the silver hair and thought immediately of Inuyasha. One full day hadn't even passed yet and she was already a lovesick puppy.  
  
"Hey Kagome, whatcha doing?" the person asked in a cheery female voice.  
"Eating my lunch, Ki-chan, so what brings you here?"  
  
Kitai's already bright smile seemed to brighten more to Kagome; it was the least she could do for her new friend, but something began to bother Kagome. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but she had the feeling that she was being watched. This sudden change in Kagome's facial expression worried Kitai somewhat.  
  
"What's the matter Kagome?"  
"I dunno, I just feel like we're being watched, that's all."  
"Oh. That, it's just your miko senses telling you a youkai is nearby, or it could just be Inuyasha, because this is his tree."  
"Inu...yasha?"  
"Yuppers, this is Inuyasha's tree; right Inuyasha?" she suddenly asked the tree branches. For a while, there was no response, then a soft thud caused Kagome to look to her right.  
  
"Keh, took you long enough. Just what kind of miko are you anyway?"  
  
Kagome didn't respond, she just sat there wondering if he had been there the whole time, which he most likely was. Many things flooded her mind right then, but that one thought stuck like glue.  
  
"How long were you there?"  
  
He rolled his eyes and walked off, leaving Kagome a bit hurt, but then she remembered something; the thing that may have ticked him off in the first place.  
  
"Inuyasha, I'm sorry." She sat there half expecting him to just continue walking, but he didn't, he just froze. If he hadn't been backing her, she would've been seen the stunned look on his face. He mentally shrugged it off and replaced his mask of indifference before he went back to functioning normally.  
  
"For what?"  
"Saturday. I'm sorry that I walked into you and didn't apologize. I was a little out of it I guess, so I'm sorry, I didn't mean for us to get off on a bad foot, so I'm saying it now. I'm sorry. So am I forgiven?"  
"Keh. It doesn't mean that I like you though." he replied harshly. He stalked off and eventually vanished, but for Kagome, it was enough.

"Kirara. Kirara? KIRARA! WHERE ARE YOU?" a young woman with dark brown hair screeched. She ran around a rather messy apartment looking for a certain two-tailed neko youkai we all know and love.  
  
She had searched the apartment three times already and this was going to the fourth time and counting and as she was about to call the police, the apartment door swung open.  
  
"Hey Sango, I was thinking of going out to get some Chinese and I was wondering if you wanted to...come?"  
  
Sango grinned sheepishly at the black haired figure in the door, who had just dropped some bags on the floor. Her dark brown eyes quickly swept the apartment and her eyes were wide as her mouth hung open slightly.  
  
"Hehe, hi Rin."  
"Sango?"  
"Yees?"  
"Whose apartment is this?"  
"Ano...yours?"  
"No, try again."  
"No, I'm pretty sure that this is your apartment because I didn't leave while you were gone."  
"I can see that, but it might not take a whole hour to wreck one apartment so..."  
"It's yours Rin."  
  
Rin hauled her small form out of the doorway to trudge through the mess and grab onto to Sango's shoulders. Her face had a distant look of dismay and she looked dazed. Then she just let go and sat down on the partially mutilated sofa and ran her hands through her short hair.  
  
"There is a good explanation behind this I trust."  
"I was looking for Kirara."  
  
Rin took her attention off the little bit of carpet she could see and looked at Sango with furrowed eyebrows.  
  
"Kirara?"  
"Mm-hm." Sango replied as she sat down next to Rin with the phone still in her hand. It was her turn to stare into space with a blank look on her face. She felt Rin's hand rubbing circles on her shoulder and she could feel the sympathy in every complete revolution Rin's hand made. The taijiya thought of everyone who was slipping away from her: Kohaku, who had just died from his brief illness, her father who decides to go to America in search of a better life (that's why she lives with Rin), Kirara, who runs away when she was needed most and Kagome who moved to Tokyo when her father...  
  
"Kagome."  
"Is in Tokyo."  
"No. Kagome may have Kirara."  
"And how did we come up with this brilliant idea?"  
"Remember how I was saying that I didn't want her to leave because she would be lonely?"  
"Yeah."  
"So maybe, just maybe, Kirara went to keep her company."  
"You maybe onto something there." Rin said as she momentarily paused in her comforting of Sango to think while Sango was busy dialling a number on the phone. But it wasn't the police she was calling; it was the residence of a certain family by the name of Higurashi...

Kagome looked around nervously as she realised what they had to do. The one thing that she couldn't. Connect miko power to her arrow. This was a moment she was dreading for the past fifteen minutes and there was no one to ease her mind. And it was now her turn.  
  
Here she was at this prestigious school and she couldn't even do what they considered to be "basic skills". She stood there for a minute, flaunting her elegant form, and swallowed hard trying to remember what her father had taught her.  
  
'Emotions into bow? Or was it let the bow be your emotions? Urgh, I can't remember. Who cares what it is, I don't. I'm trusting my otou-san on this one.'  
  
"Excuse me Higurashi, but we don't have all day you know, we have to watch more expert archers like myself show you commoners how it's done."

Kagome narrowed her eyes and almost tried to shoot Kikyo with the arrow before she mentally scolded herself over and over again, then all of a sudden, his voice popped into her head.  
  
"Channel your emotions through the arrow; let your spirit control you. Find that one thing in life that you love...and reach out to it with your spirit, capture and hold it with your spirit; and never let go."  
  
Kagome's eyes were closed as she tried to find that one thing, but there were too many options and as she just thought of love and she thought of her father. But it was nothing compared to the intense feeling she got, when her mind's eye finally rested on Inuyasha.  
  
All at once, she was entranced by the colour of his eyes. Everything around her seemed to slip away, her existence was no longer of that world, but of a fantasy realm, where everything was perfect and just the way she liked it.  
  
She didn't see when her fingers gently lifted off her bow and arrow, letting the arrow fly with great force. She had no idea that everyone was gawking when it was covered by a deep blue purple energy. Her soul was at peace and it was floating away from her as she lazily opened her eyes to watch as the miko power covered arrow plough through the target and get stuck halfway.  
  
It took her a while to come back to earth, but when she did, it was worth it. The lecher had just dragged Inuyasha in to see what the girls were up to, and when they saw the arrow, their eyes bulged, but when they saw Kagome, their mouths dropped. Kouga walked in not too long after and his face was the same as the two before him.  
  
Kikyo was dumfounded to say the least and so was everyone else, but she couldn't care less, she just did it. And she wasn't the only one to realize that. Now that she had come back to earth, she realised that everyone was either staring at her or her arrow.  
  
"Wow Kagome, I never knew that you were that good."  
"Well, I'm not really that good, because, to tell you the truth," Kagome said, leaning into Kitai to make sure that only she heard what was to be said next, and that her voice was barely above a whisper, "it was the first time I did that."  
  
Kitai's eyes opened wide in shock and stared at Kagome unbelievingly. She looked at the young miko in front of her, then at the arrow (which was still embedded in the target) and then back to Kagome.  
  
Obviously, she wasn't the only one who heard and didn't believe it, for as soon as Kagome was about to say something else, a yell cut her off.  
  
"NO WAY IN HELL THAT WAS HER FIRST TIME. IT JUST CAN'T BE." a male voice shouted, and there was only one person that the voice could have possibly belonged to. Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome looked at him with wide eyes, while everyone looked at her. He quickly realised what he just did and shut up, diverting his gaze to Kagome's face to see her reaction. It was a mix between shock, embarrassment and hurt.  
  
"I knew it was too good to be true. So what? They don't teach you how to connect miko power to an arrow in the south? Figures. You could never be as good as me...never."  
"You're right Kikyo, she'll never be as good; she'll just be better, that's all."  
  
All eyes were suddenly directed to an old woman who hobbled out of the shadows with a gray patch covering her right eye. Kagome looked around at all the stunned faces as she wondered who this mysterious woman was. Kikyo shrunk away as the woman hobbled further into the light, revealing a quiver full of arrows slung over her shoulder.  
  
"Ka-ka-kaede-baba, how's your...eye?" she stuttered, her eyes still fixated on the old woman who was now standing in the middle of the crowd. Kagome looked around and her eyes landed on Kitai, whose jaw was hanging open and her golden eyes bulging out of their sockets.  
  
"Ano...Ki-chan, who is that woman?" Kagome asked softly, knowing that no matter how softly she spoke, Kitai would always be able to hear her. But apparently, not today. Kitai just stood stock still, although she somehow managed to close her mouth. From all of the attention she was getting, you think that the woman was a supermodel or someone of great importance or fame, not some old woman with an eye patch.  
  
"That's Kaede-baba." a masculine voice behind her mumbled. Kagome visibly jumped as she felt the person's hot breath tousle the hairs tucked behind her ear. At first she thought it was Kouga, but when she turned and saw Inuyasha, she almost fainted from shock. Suddenly, his lips formed a smirk which Kagome instantly knew she hated.  
  
"Startled you did I? I'm so sorry, I forgot that you're just a miko who can't control her powers yet."  
  
Kagome growled at him when she realized that he was...in essence...right, but he didn't need to know that. She continued to glare at him when a random thought struck her, and before she could stop herself, she just had to ask him:  
"Just what were you doing so close to me any way?"  
  
Inuyasha's eyes widened slightly when Kagome finished her question and a slight blush crept across his face and he took a couple steps back. Kouga and Miroku popped out of nowhere and they stood between the two staring at one and then at the next.  
  
"Yes Inuyasha, what were you doing so close to my woman?"  
"I am NOT your woman." Kagome said, her eye beginning to twitch horribly like it did that same morning. It didn't help when Kouga embraced her and brought their lips dangerously close.  
"Of course you are Kagome-chan, you don't have to deny what you feel for me in front of the mutt and his good buddy the lecher, Miroku."  
"I do if I don't have feelings for you, Kouga." she stated through gritted teeth. A few yards away from this little scene, Kaede had finally managed to make her way over to Kitai.  
  
"Ah Kitai, how are you?"  
"Fine Kaede-san, how's your eye?"  
"I'm good, nothing that those people down at the hospital can't do. I'm convinced. So how is Kouga treating you?"  
  
Kitai paused for a moment and glanced over to where Kouga was holding Kagome in a tight embrace and refusing to let go despite pleads from Miroku that she might die from lack of oxygen. Her face faltered slightly, just enough for Kaede to notice, before plastering a huge smile on her face and turning back to look at Kaede.  
  
"He's treating me just fine." she finally answered. If it had been any other person, she might have pulled it off, but she knew she could never pull a fast one on Kaede, she was just too smart.  
  
"If you know that you can't lie to me, why try? You might be able to pull it off with Kouga, gods know he could use with his senses sharpened, but not with me. We'll talk about this later." And with that Kaede walked off, past Kouga and Kagome, and right through the door.

Sesshoumaru looked out the window, his long silver hair pulled into a loose ponytail. Classes just seemed to get more boring as the days went by to him, what with his lack of excitement and friends. But what he really wanted was some female attention. He knew that they were all attracted to him at some point in time, so why were they afraid to admit it?  
  
Was it because he was a youkai? Or maybe they were expecting him to make the first move. Whatever the reason, he couldn't be bothered because he felt that someone was coming along soon. He didn't believe in that "There's someone for everyone" nonsense, but he couldn't help but feel it inside him. As if he were expecting someone special, that perfect someone that he always saw in the movies or read of in books.  
  
The one he would ultimately fall for and cherish for the rest of his life. Like his father cherished his mother. He snorted and smiled to himself. How could someone who didn't believe in love ever cherish someone that much? Maybe there was no hope for him. Maybe he would just die an old man who would be unable to say that he had fallen deeply in love, not even experiencing the brief high of infatuation with a woman.  
  
But even as these thoughts passed through his head, he couldn't help but feel that expectancy burning his very soul telling him that he wasn't hopeless and that there was someone out there who was waiting for him. Someone whom he would eventually make his mate.

Kagome stepped out onto the steps of her new school. It would take some adjusting to, but she didn't mind it all that much. Tokyo was definitely different to Onoda, but it was an pleasant difference...well, an almost pleasant difference when she thought of her brief encounter with Miroku's wandering hands. Really, and he was supposed to be a Buddhist monk?  
  
A honking horn broke her train of thought as she looked down and saw her mother's smiling face, and Souta poking his head through the space between the two front seats to catch a glimpse of Kagome's new school, even if he had seen it that morning.  
  
Hopping into the front seat, Kagome told her mother of all the things she had done for the day, not forgetting to mention when she connected miko power to her arrow for the first time. Nothing could get that enormous smile off Mrs. Higurashi's face, and for a moment, Nadeshiko marveled at how Kagome had managed to get back to normal so quickly, not noticing the tears that threatened to fall as Kagome desperately wished that her father had been able to see her, or even hear her retell the tale. All that Kagome had to console her aching heart was his gentle and reassuring voice saying "You don't know how proud I am of you, Kag." in her head.

Hikaru Mitsukai: Ah, poor Kagome, I feel so bad for her...and her butt. Damn lecher Miroku. And just the other day, my good unofficial beta reader, Saikyou, pointed out to me the fact that Kirara would never leave Sango's side, presenting a problem in itself. A problem that I shall quickly fix. How did Kirara end up in Tokyo? Will the readers ever find out? When will Rin and Sango arrive, and what will Kaede and Ki-chan talk about? Will the story ever live up to its PG-13 rating? These and many more questions will be answered in the next chapter of Chasing A Far Away Dream: Chats and Fights 


	3. Chats and Fights

Hikaru Mitsukai: I hate exams, I really do, but they're all done so...WOO- WHO! NO MORE EXAMS, NO MORE CLASSES...and now no more school. Anywho, this is another result of 'spontaneous fingers', and as I type, the fingers make it all up. You'll probably love the fact that I had no idea what the title meant until the middle of the second chapter; around the time I put up the first one. I can't wait for summer to come, because I've been saving money for a couple of weeks now to buy some manga when I go away. No, not Inuyasha, but hopefully Naruto and Fruits Basket: the bishes, oh the bishes.  
  
But enough talk of beautiful men who remind you of women at one glance, and onto my ficcy.   
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I buy nothing, I have nothing to mooch off of, for I am poor, so suing me is just a waste of time...  
  
Chasing A Far Away Dream  
  
Chapter 3: Chats and Fights  
  
A silver haired figure rose out of their warm bed, casting a glance at the neon figures on the alarm clock that sat on a coffee table on the other side of the room from where they stood. Much to their despair, it was 7:30 in the morning. A soft rustling was heard as they fitted their feet into a pair of bunny head slippers, making their feet the only part of them that was warm at the time.  
  
Fitting on a robe, the figure opened the door and slowly shuffled down the dark hall, only to stop abruptly at a door and begin knocking. The small fist made only a tiny tap on the hard wood surface when it finally landed on the door, and there was no answer; no response, just silence.  
  
Tapping again with much more urgency this time, the person silently cursed their luck as their taps went unnoticed once again. Swiftly losing patience, they fished around for something in the robe pockets, only to pull out a key, which was subsequently jammed into the door and turned, producing a satisfying click.  
  
As the door slowly creaked open, an unexpected snore was heard, startling the form that stood in the darkened hallway. The worst thing? It was loud, and very much so. Rolling their eyes, they trudged in, shutting the door slightly before going any further.  
  
The bed was the first thing seen in the huge penthouse-like room, and the now thoroughly annoyed person made their way towards it with a rather slow shuffle of their feet. Finally reaching their destination, they inspected the slumbering body with great envy and contempt, at first poking a foot that protruded from beneath the covers, then shaking it.

"Kouga-sama? Kouga-sama. Kouga-sama, GET OUT OF BED! NOW!" the childish female voice exclaimed, a murderous look on her face. Needless to say, the person in the bed was awake, thanks to that inu hanyou, his employee of sorts, who was giving him the most annoyed face he had ever seen.  
  
He looked at her with an equally annoyed look as the wind blew over his uncovered top half. Looking her over, he noticed that underneath the robe, there was only a T-shirt, one that he recognized as his own from the scent that was wafting into his keen nostrils. Removing the covers, he hopped out of the bed, revealing that he had only slept in a pair of boxers the night before. He pushed his feet into his slippers and put on the robe that Kitai had given him; the one she was wearing a few moments before.  
  
Glaring at her, he pulled open the door and walked out, making sure to give her own last glare before he left, leaving the door open for he thought that she would soon follow. But this was not the case, for no sooner had he left the room, she crawled into the spot he had been occupying minutes ago, making sure to pull the sheets up over her cold body. She wriggled for a while in an attempt to find the sleeping position she had before she had to awake the lazy ass she called Kouga-sama, and soon found it, hugging the same pillow he had been hugging before she woke him.  
  
Wearing his shirt, hugging his pillow, taking in his scent, she soon found herself sleeping in the bed of her 'master'.

* * *

Inuyasha had been sleeping until the lovely time of 7:30, too engrossed in the strange dream he had that was lost to him as soon as he awoke. Taking one look at the clock, he rolled his eyes and went back to sleep, only to have cold water dumped on him. Immediately sitting back up, he began to swear as his eyes surveyed his drenched body and bed.  
  
Turning, he realised it was his father who had an almost sickening smile on his face. Inutaisho shook his head sadly and put the bucket behind his back, wondering what colourful word his son was going to start the day off with.  
  
"Is this your sick idea of a joke? 'Cause I'm not laughing." he asked in a thoroughly pissed tone, making it rather obvious that he was not a morning person. Inutaisho smiled sweetly and walked away, still holding the bucket behind his back. Suddenly he turned around as he was about to walk out through the door.  
  
"And this is what my company is going to be left to? The world really is going to the dogs." He turned back around and strolled out the door, a grin planted on his handsome features, tears of silent laughter streaming down his face as Inuyasha finally got the pun.  
  
"What the fuck?! That was so goddamned corny..."

* * *

A man strolled down one of the many corridors of the Nakajima household, sipping a cup of coffee casually as he peered into some of the rooms that had open doors, one of them being Kitai's. He had a lot of facial resemblance to Kouga, and that was where the similarities ended. Even though he and Kouga both had the same length hair, his was different, in that it was grey around the temples and had many silver hairs hiding within the mass of black ones; the tell-tale signs of stress.  
  
His long shiny black and silver hair was loose, hanging over his broad shoulders or just gently floating backwards with every step he took. Jamming his hand into the pocket of his pinstriped pyjamas, he listening keenly when he heard the faint sound of someone's even breathing and something that was between a soft snore and loud sigh.  
  
Stopping suddenly outside of Kouga's bedroom door, the man's purple eyes darted in the direction of the bed and he saw a figure lying down in the bed. He would have figured that it was Kouga, had he not seen his son downstairs swearing loudly about gods know what, and he realised the person sleeping was far too shapely to be mistakenly for his overly proud son. Smiling, he stepped inside and strolled over to the bedside, where he pulled down the sheets to see Kitai sleeping peacefully in Kouga's bed.  
  
She looked like she had thirteen years ago when she was just a pup, no more than two years of age when they had taken her in that day. Just glancing at her, he realised how adorable she looked, with her mouth open ever so slightly and her body on one side in order to hug Kouga's favourite pillow, the softest of the lot. He scratched behind her ears, making her stir slightly.  
  
Rolling onto her back, her eyes fluttered open only to catch the sight of the man's chest hair. She opened her mouth to say something, but was quickly silenced by the two fingers that sealed her lips together and her eyelids began to droop from the energy she had wasted. Noticing this, the man looked into her eyes and told her the exact thing she wanted to hear.  
  
"Go back to sleep."  
  
He watched as her eyelids finally closed, and waited until she rolled back onto her side to leave, taking one last look at her before leaving the room and going to the shower.

* * *

"Aren't we in a hurry this morning?"  
"Oh shove it."  
  
Inutaisho snorted as he watched his son grab the cup of coffee that had been left on the table, next to the picture of a lovely woman with long raven black hair and blue purple eyes. She had a mysterious smile and a look of wisdom about her, something that radiated right through the expensive looking picture frame.  
  
As soon as Inuyasha's eyes landed on it, he spit out the mouthful of coffee that he had been about to swallow, spraying it all over the woman's picture. He stood stock still for a few minutes, just watching the coffee drip off , before he turned to his father, who had been watching his reaction keenly.  
  
Inuyasha slammed the mug onto the table so hard that it cracked at the bottom slightly, but his father's expression remained unreadable. Taking a deep breath, he turned to look at the woman in the picture, resisting the urge to stroke her face and hold the picture frame tightly to his chest. After all she was his mother.  
  
"What the hell is this doing here?" he said in an unusually soft and calm voice. He held his head down and clenched his fists until his knuckles became white.  
  
"I put it there to remind you of her, I thought it would be good for you. You know?"  
  
"No. I don't know, maybe you should've thought a little longer. You know?"  
  
Closing his eyes, Inutaisho sighed and frowned within himself. How could he have not seen that coming? Inuyasha was always the type to dwell on things. Always. It never changed and it never will. He would always blame himself for something that he couldn't have prevented, but that was not the way he chose to see it.  
  
"Inuyasha, you can't keep blaming yourself. You and I both know that, so why?" he said, slowing opening his eyes as he spoke, but the only response he got was silence and then the slamming of a door.

* * *

Kouga waltzed into his room, drying his fabulously long hair when he realised that someone was sleeping in his bed. Yes, a silver haired someone who had dog-ears perched on the top of their head. He growled and pulled the sheets off her, watching as she continued to sleep like an angel in his bed, in his spot. In his shirt.  
  
"What the fuck are you doing you stupid bitch?! Get out of my bed before I make you." he said threateningly, but for all the notice he was getting, he might as well have been dead. He growled again and was about to pick her up and dump her on the floor, when she began to stir.  
  
Kitai's eyes fluttered open and she saw Kouga standing over her with a glare on his face and his school uniform on. No matter how fuzzy her vision was when she awoke, she could always tell him apart from his father; it was something about their auras that set them apart. Rolling onto her back, she sat up with great difficulty and began to rub the sleep from her eyes.  
  
Turning sideways, she looked up at Kouga who was not the exact image of happy. A low growling filled the large room and Kitai smiled nervously at Kouga, who had his arms folded across his chest. He obviously meant business.  
  
"Out. Now."  
  
That was all he said, but for her it was enough to make her world crumble into tiny pieces because she knew that he had the power to throw her out. Although technically, he couldn't do that until she was eighteen, or until they found her father, which ever came first.  
  
"I don't pay you to sleep in my fucking bed; now get to hell out."  
  
She humbly bowed and left the room, leaving Kouga to find his car keys and his way with women.

* * *

Sango walked through the apartment for one of the very last times, thinking of how she was going to miss the apartment whilst trying not to trip up over any of the boxes she had haphazardly left in the way. Rin was watching her with utmost interest when she realised something.  
  
The day that Sango had called the shrine, she put down the phone and said that she had to tell her something, but she never got around to it. They had started all their packing and paid for the train tickets, sold off most of the stuff they didn't need or didn't want to carry, and made all the other arrangements i.e. school wise, but Sango still didn't tell Rin what she had to tell her that day.  
  
"Ano...Sango?"

"Hai?"

"What did you have to tell me on Monday?"

"The Monday that just went or the one before that?"

"The one before that."  
  
Sango stopped and turned to look at Rin while she tried to remember what had been so important but had forgotten nonetheless. Picking up a box to move it, she spotted a letter from one of the local universities that Rin had applied for. It was related to that letter, she knew that much, but what on earth could it be? Then it suddenly hit her. Rin had to move into a dorm room.  
  
"So?"

"I forgot to tell you...you have to find room at the university."

"I already have a place. Or do you mean something else?"

"Mrs. Higurashi told me that they only have room for one more, and there aren't any boarding schools for a few kilometres, so you would have to find a dorm room. Sorry I forgot to tell you. I just got caught up in the excitement of moving, that's all."

"It's okay, I mean, I totally understand. Besides, I really don't care once I don't end up with some movie star wannabe, or a stalker." Rin said calmly as she continued to eat her cereal, watching Sango out of the corner of her eye. They smiled as they both thought of two unrelated topics: Sango about seeing Kagome and Kirara again and Rin about how the people on her website would take the move.

* * *

Kagome practically danced all the way to her locker when she heard the news from her mother: Rin and Sango were moving to Tokyo also. And just as Kagome suspected, it was all because of Kirara. Don't you just love that little fire cat demon?  
  
Humming a cheerful tune to herself, she thought that nothing could ruin her day, all the while hoping that she was right. This was a day to remember, and she also made a mental note to ask Kitai something that seemed sort of stupid but had to be asked anyway. When she was on this train of thought, she realised something. Kitai wasn't at school. Well, not yet anyway.  
  
'Maybe she's sick. No, she's half youkai, she can't get sick, or can she?' Kagome thought to herself as she wandered down the hallway. She looked up suddenly into a pair of crimson eyes with white pupils, thinking that they looked rather familiar. Upon further inspection, she realised that she did in fact see those same eyes before, because, well, crimson isn't exactly a common eye colour, unless you're the principal of the Natsuki Watanabe High School, Shigeta Onigumo, more commonly known as Naraku.  
  
Onigumo looked down at Kagome and smiled a smile that more resembled a smirk than anything else. Kagome nervously smiled up at the man who was dressed in a crisp pinstriped suit, his long wavy auburn hair in a ponytail that sat on the top of his head. Looking down, she saw his white shoes with what could be best described as black flames on the sides. All he needed now was a felt hat and a machine gun and he could easily be mistaken for a Yakuza.  
  
"Ah, Miss Higurashi, how are you today my dear?"  
"I'm fine Shigeta-san, never better."  
"How nice to hear. Listen, if you see Kitai, tell her Kaede's looking for her, won't you? They have to have a little chat today she said."  
"Ano...okay, I'll tell her as soon as I see her."  
"Perfect. Thanks a bunch, and I wouldn't advise you to stand in the middle of the hallways Kagome, dear. Someone might knock you over."  
  
He turned and walked past her, leaving her to wonder what Kaede and Kitai had to talk about. It couldn't be anything serious, right? For what it was worth, Kitai didn't seem like the type to get into trouble, but then again, at first glance Miroku didn't seem like the type to have a tendency to roaming hands. Kagome shuddered involuntarily at the thought of how many times he had groped her for the past week. Damn lecher Miroku.  
  
She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts and continued to walk when none other than the infamous Miroku arrived with a somewhat puzzled look on his face. He was about to walk past her when he just suddenly snapped out of his thoughts and stopped right next to her.  
  
"My dear Kagome..."

"For the last time Miroku, I am not going to bear your child so leave me alone."

"I wasn't going to ask you that, but since you seem so eager..."  
  
Kagome gave him a look of pure poison and he instinctively placed his hands in front of his face for fear of getting hit in his face; something that happened a little just a little too often for his liking.  
  
"I was just joking. Kami, and I thought Inuyasha couldn't take a joke. But while we're on the subject, have you seen my fleabag of a friend? It's no use being the alpha male without a wingman, you know."  
"No I haven't seen him, but I have to ask. Does he really let you call him that?"  
"What? You mean my wingman? Of course he does."  
"I didn't actually mean that, but that makes just as little sense as what I did mean."  
  
Miroku shrugged and began to look around for any sign of Inuyasha but found none. He was beginning to lose patience with himself for just standing there and eventually began to drift from Kagome's side...but not before he got a quick squeeze off her ass.  
  
Kagome's face was graced with a bright red blush as she realised what he had done, and by the time she had turned around, he had ran into a crowd waving back at her and smiling. And with a wink and a grin Miroku disappeared into the crowd.

* * *

Inuyasha pulled into the school parking lot in Sesshoumaru's silver Audi convertible the same time as a black Jaguar, which was unmistakeably Kouga's, did. Turning off the engine, he got out of the car and put the roof of the car back up, watching Kouga get out of his car behind the tinted lenses of his shades. Kitai soon got out of the other side, yawning and stretching before she slammed the door almost effortlessly. She sniffed the air slightly and turned to look at him, a smile on her face.  
  
"Ohayo Inuyasha-kun."  
  
He merely grunted in response to her cheery greeting and began to walk towards the school building, before he found out that they were there. Unfortunately, Inuyasha did something to irritate the gods this morning, for it was just their luck that none other than the good principal Naraku had been patrolling the parking lot looking for his 'darlings, the trouble makers', only find those three.  
  
"Late are we?"  
"Hai Onigumo-san. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."  
"Oh, is that you Kitai? Kaede told me to tell you that she wanted to speak with you, but not now though, at lunch okay."  
"Hai Onigumo-san."  
"Good, now you three better get inside before I change my mind and put you in detention." And with that, he simply walked off. That was his style. Threaten you in a sugarcoated voice and then scurry away, leaving you in either shock, fear, disbelief or amazement. The mood for the moment was neither; the three just left and went to their different classes, wondering what the day ahead held in store for them each.

* * *

Kagome was trying with all of her might to get number 6 in her math book done, but it just wasn't coming out. She had used all of the formulae in the world, or at least the ones she remembered, but none of them helped and just as she was about to give up, Kitai strolled in the class, her hair and uniform dripping with water. Apparently, in her futile attempts to concentrate on her work, Kagome didn't realise that it had started to rain very hard.  
  
Kitai began to shake herself out much like a dog would, and then Kagome remembered something. She hadn't seen her cat for the whole time she had been in Tokyo. But she had seen Kirara, which, now that she thought about it, would kind of remind her of Buyo at an improper half glance. Rolling her eyes, she slapped her forehead as she realised what she had done. She put Kirara in the pet carrier instead of Buyo. 'Only god knows how I couldn't have noticed that when I put Kirara in the pet carrier; she's way too light to be Buyo.' she thought, as Kitai sat down in front of her, shaking her head ever so often to get out some of the leftover water in her hair.  
  
"Ohayo Kagome-chan."  
"Ohayo Ki-chan. Oh, Kaede wants to see you at lunch."  
"I know. Onigumo-san told me when I got to school."  
  
Kagome sat in her seat staring at the back of Kitai's head with an intent gaze, wondering if she ask what she had wanted to ask for the longest while now. What could it hurt? It was just a simple yes or no question, that didn't have any history behind it. Or did it? Who knew? Certainly not Kagome, but she decided to take the chance because it was now killing her to know. Taking a deep breath, she calmed her nerves and focussed on the silvery dog ears perched on the top of the young inu hanyou's head.  
  
"Ano...Ki-chan? Are you related to Inuyasha?"  
  
Silence. Then came and unladylike snort that didn't suit Kitai at all, startling Kagome and confusing her when a short response followed. A response that Kagome never saw coming.  
  
"I wish was."

* * *

The lunch bell rang and Kouga staggered out of his classroom with his sleeves torn and a slight bruise around his left eye. All during gym, he and Inuyasha had been fighting and his arm was now healing, a very slow and painful process that annoyed the crap out of Kouga.  
  
He began to look around for any sign of Kitai and found none, a rather unusual occurrence that worried him somewhat, but then he realised what he was starting to worry about and snorted. If she had been there, she would have been all over him, asking him if he was all right and if he wanted or needed anything. Then he would have told her all he wanted was his space and she still wouldn't have backed off. At least now he got what he wanted, but yet still a part of him wanted her to be there to nag him like she always did and always would, one of the few things that would change in his life.  
  
"Hey Kouga." some random female said to him, and upon looking down, he realised it was Kagome. She looked at his arm with a tad bit of worry on her face and began to inspect his bleeding arm, muttering things to herself every once and awhile, but unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by a pair of golden eyes.  
  
"How did you get this anyway?"  
"Got in a fight with dog shit. Nothing big. Happens all the time."  
  
He spoke very casually, in a way that kind of freaked Kagome out. But then again, he was a youkai, and Inuyasha was a hanyou, so she wondered to herself if she should be more worried about Inuyasha than Kouga, until she saw him down the corridor being hauled away by Kikyo, who was blushing ever so slightly while looking up at Inuyasha with a dreamy sort of look in her eye.  
  
Kagome glared at the two, feeling unusually angry with someone, but she didn't know who, while the shadowy golden-eyed figure stared at Kagome, still holding Kouga's healing arm in her hand while she stared down the corridor. Finally wiping a tear from their wet eyes, the figure stalked off, deciding that they had better not be late for their little chat with Kaede.

* * *

Inuyasha looked at the back of Kikyo's head with a somewhat murderous intent; the scowl on his face enough to scare away some of the staff and all of the students. Once again after his weekly fight with Kouga to show who was the dominant male of the class, Kikyo insisted on hauling him somewhere, which was usually somewhere near the parking lot.  
  
He could feel her worry every time she touched his blood covered skin, making him very annoyed with her. Even though he knew she cared for him, and he for her, he couldn't forgive her for what she was wordlessly insinuating. That he couldn't hold his own against a full-blooded youkai just because he was a hanyou. Kikyo always did that, and when he won, she would always be extra chirpy and haul him away to show him something. Another thing he hated. Surprises.  
  
She could almost feel him growl and she tried ever so hard to ignore it so that she could tell him exactly what she wanted to say, seeing as she wouldn't have much time to enjoy his company. Tears began to gather in her eyes and she blinked them away knowing that Inuyasha would soon smell their saltiness, and she knew he hated it when she cried, especially when he thought that it was his fault. It was one of his few weaknesses, and when compared to his greatest weakness, it was nothing.  
  
It was the one thing that Kikyo could not prevent him from doing, the thing that his beautiful mother was best at protecting him against: his hatred for his conjured up weakness that took the shape of his being a hanyou, too weak to be a youkai and too powerful to be a human, making him feel that he belonged nowhere, that he had no place reserved for him in life.  
  
Kikyo suddenly stopped and turned to face Inuyasha, only to look down when she realised that she could not hold his gaze. She began to fumble with the end of her skirt but immediately stopped when she realised that she was acting like the person she had sworn to hate for the rest of her life, however long that was. (A/n: guess who she had sworn to hate...)  
  
"I suppose you want to tell me something."  
  
She nodded dumbly and finally raised her head to looked at Inuyasha, the ever victorious hanyou, who defeated Kouga week after week, occasionally settling for a draw, his silver hair swaying in the gentle breeze and his golden amber eyes trying to suck whatever she was going to say out of her. Yes, he was her ever victorious hanyou, and no one could change that, with the exception of Shinsuke, a man who was already dead, thus the reason she was also soon to be joining him in the after life, but she didn't want to dwell on that now, not when she was with Inuyasha.  
  
"Aishiteru Inuyasha."(I love you)  
"And, I you Kikyo." he said almost inaudibly, barely above a whisper. It would have slipped past her ears had she not been expecting it and she squealed with delight. He sighed as she wrapped her arms around his waist, ignoring the blood that was beginning to soak through the white cloth of her school shirt. 'I can't believe that I just lied to her.' he thought as he looked down at her, now kneeling down on the ground with her arms still tightly wrapped around his waist, causing him some discomfort, but not as much as the discomfort his conscience was causing him at that moment.  
  
It wasn't that he didn't care for her; it just wasn't what he would call love, deep affection maybe, but not something as profound as love. Well, once she wasn't crying he was happy, because the last thing he needed right now was her crying her eyes out because of it. (A/n: note how he was smart enough to avoid saying the actual words. Good for him.)  
  
The breeze blew once more and then a random thought struck him. A thought that surprised him and scared him for half a second before he realised that his life was slowly becoming more complicated with each passing moment. And that thought was:  
  
'I wonder what Kagome is doing right now.'

* * *

"I see you finally got here." a voice rasped in response to a creaking door. The person entering bowed in a very stiff manner and closed the door. Suddenly, a soft rushing sound was heard by the two persons in the room, signalling that a spell of some sort had just been activated, and then afterwards, an awkward silence filled the room.  
  
"Had to make sure that what is said here, stays here. Do, you understand?"  
"Hai Kaede-san."  
  
Once again, an awkward silence filled the room as the teenaged female hanyou fumbled with the hem of her skirt, her gaze directed to her lap, trying to ignore Kaede's penetrating stare. Kaede sat back in her seat and continued to watch the girl while thinking of something to say to her to get her to open up. To get her to share her burden, and let someone help her see her real self, someone that she had lost contact with a long time ago.  
  
"Look, I can understand if you don't want to talk about it, but we can't just sit here all day in silence."  
"I do want to talk about, I just don't know how to start. That's all."  
"So do you want me to start then?"  
"...I suppose so..."  
  
Kaede watched as the girl slowly raised her head and looked her in the eye, something she didn't do very often, if ever at all. She was much like a small child in many respects, being easy to please and eager to please others, especially Kouga. But no-one really knew why she lived with the Nakajimas, except the three involved, and it had to be some kind of horror story if none of them would tell the story, but that was another day's battle, because today was an important day for Kitai, she would finally open up to someone, instead of shrugging it off and putting on a happy face.  
  
"So, how's everything at home."  
"Good, I suppose, but why did you want me to come here?"  
"I'm glad you asked. Yesterday, when I asked you how Kouga was treating you, you seemed to hesitate a bit before answering in your usual childish manner. I want to know why."  
  
Kitai began to feel uneasy in her seat and even began to sweat. A soft but noticeable blush graced her rather pale face as she smiled nervously at Kaede, who watched all of these reactions to her simple, and she supposed to be meaningless, question. Smiling at Kitai made her more nervous as the hanyou began to grip the armrests and her eye had also began to twitch ever so slightly.  
  
"All I asked is why you hesitated to answer me. No need to get all fidgety. Unless you have good reason to be."  
"I didn't hesitate Kaede-san. I-I-I dunno what you're talking about."  
  
Kaede 'tsked' and sat forward in her chair so as to give the flustered hanyou but a glimpse of her face. She knew she had hit something when she saw Kitai's eyes bulging, her nervous smile getting wider with every passing second. She swallowed hard and began to push against the back of the chair she sat in, as if trying to entice it to swallow her whole and carry her away, far away.  
  
"You know that dogs can smell fear, but did you know that mikos can _sense_ fear?"  
  
Another hard swallow was heard from in front of Kaede. Obviously she didn't realised that Kaede had just lied through her teeth because she was too caught up in keeping some secret safe from Kaede. But what in the seven hells was it?  
  
"Fine, I admit I hesitated a little bit, but it meant nothing. I swear."  
"Well, you'd better swear again, because I'm not buying it. If I recollect rightly, I asked you how Kouga was treating you. What is he doing to you?"  
"He isn't doing anything bad on purpose." she spurted out before she had even realised what she had said. Kaede raised an eyebrow and then Kitai clamped her hands over her mouth as if trying to take back the words she had just said, but it was too late now. Kaede was closing in for the kill.  
  
"What was that supposed to mean?"  
"I meant exactly what I said." She folded her arms over her chest and looked to her left in an attempt to cover up what she had just said, her embarrassment suddenly taking a firm hold of her aura.  
  
"So I can interpret it as I please then?"  
"If you want to."  
"So my opinion, it means that you like Kouga, but he doesn't know and it hurts when he treats other females the way you want him to treat you. Am I right?"  
  
Kitai's eyes shot in Kaede's direction and her face became a heated red. Bull's eye.  
  
She began to become uneasy again and she was now squirming in her seat trying to avoid Kaede's gaze and the smug look on her face. The sun was now filtering through the shutters of the windows, giving Kaede's face shadowy appearance, and suddenly with a sigh of defeat, the red faced Kitai turned back to face Kaede, but her gaze was once again diverted to her lap; her fingers fumbling with the hem of her skirt.  
  
"Am I right?" she asked the silver haired girl in front of her in a softer tone, trying to finally ease it out after a few minutes of mind games and embarrassment on Kitai's part. Much to her relief, the answer to her question came in the form of a tiny nod as she began to sit back in her chair once again.  
  
"You should tell him. Maybe he would be more considerate."  
"It doesn't matter, it isn't that important. He probably wouldn't even care, I mean, what he could possibly feel towards me. A piece of hanyou filth? What could he possibly feel besides pity?"  
  
Kaede opened her mouth to shout at the girl and tell her not to let him disrespect her like that but decided against it, sensing in a motherly kind of way that she was on the brink of tears inside, even if she would never let it show. But one thing confused Kaede very much, so much so that she was bouncing off the walls of her mind trying to find an answer to a question that she couldn't seem to be able to answer on her own.  
  
"Kitai, tell me this. How could you possibly care so much for a person who treats you with practically no respect what so ever?" she asked in a puzzled voice, and much to her surprise, the girl looked up with a sad smile on her face, something that was unheard of when it came to Inori Kitai, the girl of sunshine and rainbows, believed to be unable to feel pain. But Kaede knew that Kouga knew better. Much better.  
  
"You have no idea. Kouga-sama, he means the world to me. I would do anything for him because I know that he would do likewise. He protects me, takes care of me, he cares about me, but not the way I care for him. He shows to me, a side of himself that no one else has ever seen before because he trusts me enough to confide in me. I know all his darkest secrets, and he knows all of mine. Well, almost all of mine. And he only seems to treat me badly because he's preparing me for the real world, that and he has a reputation to uphold. And he does treat me with respect, because I give him respect. He only seems like a jerk, but if you knew him the way I did, you'd know better. Much better."  
  
She appeared to be more flushed after her little "Why I Love Kouga- sama" speech and continued to fumble with the hem of her skirt, knowing that Kaede was staring at the top of her head with a dropped jaw or something of the sort. It was even amazing to her when the words began to flow from her heart and out through her mouth and into the expectant ears of Kaede, nestling into the old woman's brain and opening a door of understanding.  
  
"You make him sound like a saint."  
"I know." That was her brilliant reply. But for the old woman, it was enough to quench her thirst for answers to some of the many questions that floated around in her mind, and after she told the girl that she could leave, she sighed and sat back in her chair, turning to look outside her window, wondering what she was going to do for the rest of the day. An old gal has to keep herself busy you know.

* * *

Inuyasha walked down the halls on his way to English when he noticed something. He was the only one in the hallway, which could only mean one thing. He was late. Again. Not that he really cared anyway, because he knew that no matter how badly he did in school, he was always going to get half of his father's business and run it with his half brother, and maybe even Kouga if the merger went well...which he hoped it didn't.  
  
It was sickening enough to go to school with the goddamned wolf, but to end up running a business with the bastard, and probably that bitch that did every thing he asked of her, was more than what should be asked of an inu hanyou. Just the thought alone was enough to send Inuyasha to the Insane Asylum, or even to the point of going on a rampage.  
  
Growling lowly, he pushed open a door and waltzed in, only to see that he was in the wrong room. Needless to say, that put him in a mood that was worse than it was but a few seconds ago as he trudged on in his quest to find his English class, his growl getting noticeably louder with every passing minute.  
  
Suddenly he stopped, sniffing the air gently, only to continue walking a few seconds later. Pushing open the door to his English class, a soft scent reached his nose, making him sniff the air warily before he stepped in. Horibuchi-sensei turned unexpectedly and smiled at him.  
  
"Hello Inuyasha. How nice of you to join us."  
"Keh."  
"Would you care to explain to myself and the class the reason as to why you are late?"  
"No." he said as he walked casually to his seat, taking up his usual position, which was mainly with his arms folded across his chest and his feet on his desk. The teacher shook her head and then continued to teach her class, hoping that Inuyasha didn't pick this as the perfect time to try to wreak havoc in her class. Not when Kouga had finally shut up and Miroku had taken a break in his attempt at groping female students.  
  
Kagome practically hurled herself at her chair back, wafting some scent backwards and into Inuyasha's nose. It seemed to be the same smell that he was sniffing when he entered the classroom and he didn't like what it was telling him. Just making sure, he leaned forward and began to sniff the crook of her neck and she turned to look at him, wondering why on earth he could be sniffing her in the middle of class.  
  
"Why are you sniffing me?"  
"That's none of your business, wench."  
"Like hell it ain't my business. Tell me why you're sniffing me."  
  
He smirked at her and her eyes narrowed slightly so that she could glare at him. The perfect idea of a joke just passed through his head, and even though it was impossibly cruel for normal standards, the benefits were enough to make Inuyasha happy.  
  
"I was wondering if that disgusting smell was coming from you. There. Are you happy now wench?"  
  
At first all she could do was look at him dumbfounded, but that slowly changed as her eyes narrowed until they were slits, her aura now gone dark and a fire burning in the little bit of her eye that he could see. He swore he heard her growling at him and she soon grabbed a hold of his shirt, pulling him closer so that their faces were almost touching. Never, had he been handled like that, and here this little girl was, holding him in a way that not even Kouga was able to.  
  
"Are you insinuating that I smell bad Inuyasha?" she ground out through gritted teeth, and he began to smile nervously at her, because, well, she was scary. How she had managed to transform from nice and strange to scary was beyond him, but the point is she managed to. Suddenly Miroku's voice popped in from her right.  
  
"Ah, so I see that you two are getting better acquainted. Good for you, but if you don't mind I'm trying to..."  
  
Inuyasha and Kagome both turned to glare at Miroku, their cheeks almost touching, and without warning, and before Miroku could finish his sentence, Inuyasha hit him over the head with his fist. Miroku was soon wordlessly threatened by a low guttural growl that came from Inuyasha and Kagome's dangerous looking glare.  
  
"Stupid lecher, stop making lecherous comments."  
"Eh-em. Mr. Nemura and Ms. Higurashi, do you mind not pummelling poor Miroku into unconsciousness?"  
"He brought it upon himself, damn lecher."  
"I know he did Inuyasha, but that's no reason to crack his skull open now is it?"  
"Seems like a pretty damn good reason to me."  
  
The frustrated woman sighed and continued to teach her class, hoping that Miroku wouldn't pass out or that Inuyasha wouldn't pick another fight with Kagome like he did the last time, leaving the classroom trashed and quite a few people ended up in the Nurse's Office with broken bones and missing teeth.  
  
Kagome gave Inuyasha one final glare before letting go of his shirt and turning back around, leaving him to mull over his thoughts as he tried to remember what started the whole mess in the first place, then it hit him. Literally. A soft scent drifted into his nose and it came from Kagome's direction.  
  
Upon recognition of the scent, he stopped breathing for a couple of seconds and turned to look at Kouga, who was staring at Kagome with drool hanging at the corner of his mouth. Disgusted, Inuyasha leaned back to escape the smell, but it hung around him, especially where she had touched/grabbed him, causing him to panic slightly.  
  
The scent grew more intense, signalling to him that it was coming soon. He didn't want to admit it, but he had to say that she smelt really good, and disgustingly so. Kagome was going to be in heats soon, and when she reached the peak, he knew that all hells would break loose if she smelt that good and wasn't even in heats.  
  
'Damn her and her disgustingly nice scent.' he thought as he put his hands behind his head with the fingers interlaced. His feet made a heavy thud on the desk as he put them up and stared at the loveliness of her beautiful ebony locks, that draped themselves over her sleek shoulders and covered up to the small of her back. The way her body was shaped was...  
  
' Shit. This is gonna be a fucking freak show in about a week or two.'

* * *

Kagome strolled down the corridors to go to her locker with her books held up to her chest when she saw Kitai doing the combination on her locker. The silver dog ears swivelled on the top of their perch in Kagome's direction and her nose bounced up and down as she sniffed the air gingerly.  
  
"Hi Kagome-chan."  
"Hi Ki-chan, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to the train station tomorrow."  
"Why?"  
"Well, I'm picking up some friends and I wanted you to meet them. Although, if you're not able to come, I understand completely."  
"It's Saturday tomorrow Kagome. Of course I can come."  
"But what about Kouga?"  
"Kouga-sama? He doesn't usually get up before 1 in the afternoon, so he shouldn't be a problem."  
"Great, so meet me at the train station, you know the one near the airport? Right, so meet me around 9 a.m. okay?"  
  
The hanyou girl nodded and was about to walk off when Kagome suddenly grabbed a hold of the slightly smaller girl's shoulder. Confused, Kitai turned around and cocked her head on a side that made her look exactly like a little puppy.  
  
"Nande Kagome-chan?" (What is it?)  
  
Kagome blushed and looked down at her shoes while she kept poking her index fingers against each other, making it look like she wanted a favour or something, but what came next disturbed the golden-eyed hanyou.  
  
"Ki-chan. Do I... do I smell bad?" she asked in a small voice. Kagome looked up and watched as Kitai's eyebrows furrowed, then one shot up in the air.  
  
"No. You smell fine...why do you ask?"  
"No reason really. Just a spontaneous thing, ya know?"  
  
Kagome giggled nervously and scratched the back of her head, while Kitai looked at her with one eyebrow raised, the other seeming to squeeze the eye underneath. Kitai soon began to giggle until someone came and pushed her away from Kagome. That someone was a male youkai, she could tell by his scent.  
  
He suddenly turned to look at her with his bright red eyes and regarded her with disgust as he eyed her up and down. Smirking, he closed his eyes and inhaled her scent, a deep scent of male wolf. He reopened his eyes; eyed her up and down once again before snorting and facing Kagome with closed eyes.  
  
"Fucking whore. Get the filthy piece of hanyou shit out of here Manten."  
"Sure thing Hiten." and with that, a large blue thing grabbed the growling Kitai and dragged her away from where Kagome and Hiten stood, but not without a fight. The blue thing ended up knocking her out after she bit him a couple of times, and hauled her away by the tips of her long silver hair.  
  
"Now that the trash has been taken out, why don't we get down to business? Kagome is the name right?"  
"Who do you think you are?"  
"I may not be a rich and well known as the two asses who've taken interest in you, but I am a proud youkai who goes by the name of Matsumoto Hiten, and that was my brother Manten that you just saw."  
"And what do you want?"  
"For you to be my mate."  
  
Kagome snorted, turned and was about to walk away when Hiten grabbed her elbow and began to squeeze it. She tried to wrench it from his grasp, but to avail. He was just too strong.  
  
"I'm serious."  
"Let me go. You're hurting me, you freak."  
"Freak?" his voice came through gritted teeth and his hold on her arm became stronger as he stared her in the eye. Her eyes darted around in their sockets, from left to right, but no one was there. No one would be able to save her. No one.  
  
"Let her go."  
"Oh, it's the half breed. I'm sorry, were you saying something? Because all I heard was barking."  
  
Someone behind them growled and Kagome was pretty sure it was Inuyasha, unless Kitai had a split personality that was male or something. 'I highly doubt that. It must be Inuyasha then, he's the only other hanyou in the school...I think.' she thought as she felt Hiten's grip on her elbow loosen and eventually he let go, to confront someone. Inuyasha. He saved her, just like her father would have.  
  
"I suggest you go home to your mommy shit head. Oh, she's dead isn't she? Probably killed herself after she saw what she gave birth to. A piece of hanyou shit."  
  
Kagome turned around to see his reaction only to see him cover his face with his bangs. He clenched his fists tighter until little droplets of his blood hit the ground and his low guttural growl filled the surrounding area. It was all that Kagome could hear besides Hiten's pompous laughter and it broke her heart when she heard what Hiten told him.  
  
"Inuyasha..."  
"Aw don't cry little hanyou, you can always get yourself purified if you wanted."  
  
Suddenly, without warning, Inuyasha lunged at Hiten, knocking him to the floor with a loud thud. Kagome backed up a little bit as he began to sink his claws into Hiten's flesh, sending the blood everywhere. Hiten got up with some difficulty (one would be able to imagine since he has an angry hanyou clawing at his chest) and fought back.  
  
Tears clouded Kagome's eyes when she reluctantly thought back on an experience similar to the one she was witnessing, where she was being protected from a youkai because of her scent. Because of her heats. Because of her.  
  
Flashback  
  
The Higurashi family was all seated at the table about to eat lunch when suddenly the door flew right over the family and into a nearby wall. All eyes were diverted to a large figure that was preventing most of the light from entering in.  
  
"Hand over the female in heats and nobody gets hurt. Well, not today anyway."  
"I told you, this is suicide. Do you know whose house this is? Higurashi Shinsuke, one of the best houshis in this part of Onoda. Let's just leave while we still can."  
  
The large youkai blocking up the doorway turned and hit someone who subsequently howled in pain. Turning back around, he regarded the family with an arrogant air about him, and when his eyes rested on Kagome, he began to smirk.  
  
He made his way into the house, and they all watched as his tongue raced over his smirking lips. Kagome's father stood up between the disgustingly perverted youkai and his only daughter, an innocent 12 year old Kagome.  
  
"Leave this place."  
"Foolish mortal. How dare you stand in the way of me and my mate to be? Do you have a death wish, little man?" the youkai asked condescendingly, trying to intimidate the smaller man by drawing up to his full height, but much to his dismay, the man didn't budge. By now, most men would have been packing their daughters' things or lay slain on the floor while their daughters were ravished as punishment for the ignorance of their fathers, but this man, no matter how small, frightened him somewhat.  
  
The youkai made a move for the man's throat, but was too slow for he had been blocked by some kind of protection charm, and it was very powerful for it sent the youkai sailing out the door and onto the sidewalk, missing the street by quarters of millimetres.  
  
The sound of footsteps echoed in the youkai's ears and someone pulled him onto his feet. The little man. Truly amazed by the amount of holy power that was within the man, the youkai backed up and ran off, looking back over his shoulder to see if he was being followed, and much to his relief he wasn't.  
  
The rest of the Higurashi family ran outside and watched as the youkai ran down the sidewalk. People stopped in their tracks and stared at the fleeing youkai, having found no need to look at the family, because they all knew that there was only one man who could send a demon running that fast. Higurashi Shinsuke, one houshi you did _not_ want to mess with.  
  
Some embarrassed youkai shook their heads and kept walking, others shrugged their shoulders and muttered to themselves that he must have been new to the area, and others simply didn't care, because they knew that unless you wanted to be a dead man, you kept your urges to yourself.  
  
"Do you think he's going to come back otou-san?"  
"I don't think so Kagome, but just in case, we're going to put up some protective charms around the house, okay?"  
"Thank you otou-san. I love you."  
"And I love you Kagome."  
  
End of Flashback  
  
She was brought back to reality by the sounds of fighting, which had apparently gotten worse since she had zoned out. Inuyasha's uniform was now soaked through with blood and he was propping up against a tree while Hiten came for him. Kagome's eyes widened as she saw the scene before her and before she even realised what she was doing, she was in front of Inuyasha with her left arm up to shield her face.  
  
Her eyes were clamped shut and all she heard was a very loud thump and the sound of someone moaning. When she opened her eyes, she was shocked at what she found. A dark blue-purple shield was protecting her and Inuyasha, and Hiten was lying against a tree unconscious.  
  
"What the fuck did you do?"  
"Honestly...I really don't know."  
  
She turned and looked at Inuyasha, who was sliding into a sitting position directly behind her. For a few moments, they just sat there in total silence with the wind blowing between them.  
  
"Domo arigato Inuyasha."  
"Keh."  
"I really appreciate what you did for me, and I'm sorry about your mother."  
"There's nothing to be sorry for Kagome. She's gone and she's not coming back."  
"You-you..."  
"What?! Is it impossible for me to have emotions and express them like everyone else? Or is it because I'm a hanyou?"  
"You called me by my name." she said softly before blushing slightly and looking away. He was confused for a moment, but then he realised what she was talking about and then also blushed and looked in the opposite direction.  
  
The wind blew and suddenly Kitai came around the corner huffing and puffing when she saw Inuyasha and Kagome sitting one behind the other and was about to leave when Inuyasha got up and hobbled away. Kagome watched him go and then turned to see Kitai standing next to a nearby tree.  
  
"So, I'll see you tomorrow at 9 a.m. at the train station next to the airport, right?"  
"You got it Kagome-chan."  
  
Neither of the two girls saw the dark haired figure hiding behind a tree, listening in on their conversation with great intent. The person nodded to himself and rubbed his hands together.  
  
"Yes, you will see me tomorrow at the train station."

* * *

Hikaru mitsukai: Well, now that the third chapter is finally over, I have to say that I don't really like it that much, but I was in a hurry to finish it before I go off to Canada for a month. Thanks to my two reviewers, hieishypergoth, Lola-Gurl, sorry for not thanking you earlier hieishypergoth, I have a memory like a sieve. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter of Chasing A Far Away Dream: The Train Station.  
  
But for now, review. Ja ne. For those of us who didn't know, the Yakuza are kinda like the Japanese version of the Mafia.So farewell, I'm off to Canada, and them my dad's coming to visit, so you might not get any new chapters for a while, but review.


	4. The Trainstation

Hikaru M.: Well folks, I have finally returned safely to my house, and my dad is here, thus the reason for my late update. Now, in the last chapter (my God I was so tempted to say episode), we heard a little about some guy named Shinsuke. We also heard the first of Rin's infamous website. What does this have to do with, anything you ask? Its relevance will be revealed in chapters to come: The whole Shinsuke thing in a chapter called Kikyo's secret, and about the website ordeal, there will be named a part of the story, The Chronicles of Rin's Plan, _that_ is when all the chaos comes about. But that is all I will indulge you people with, now onto the story.

Disclaimer: Must I? ::sighs:: I do not own Inuyasha, any associated merchandise or Disneyland....

Chasing A Far Away Dream

Chapter 4: The Train Station

The sun shone brightly as a young boy ventured into the room of his older sister, who has currently in her favourite state of unconsciousness: sleep. Her arm hung limply over the side of the bed as her chest slowly moved up and down. Taking great care not to disturb anything the room, he crept up to his sister's side and began to whisper her name softly, which only caused her to snort and rollover.

She had stayed up half the night in excitement, and now she couldn't wake up, and if she didn't wake up soon she would be late for Rin and Sango's arrival. Souta began to shake Kagome violently to wake her up. Her eyes flew open and she sat up in bed with usual alertness.

Her usually tidy black hair was everywhere and her dazzling blue eyes began to hide behind her heavy eyelids once more. Something told her that there was someone in her room and as she turned around, she stared into a set of deep brown eyes.

"What do you want Souta?"

"Okaa-san said that if you want her to give you a ride to the train station, you have to get ready now, because she's leaving soon."

Kagome's eyebrows furrowed at first and then her eyes bulged in realisation as she looked at the clock. It was already 8.59 and she had to meet Kitai in exactly one minute. She threw off the sheets and ran straight into the bathroom, only to dash out five minutes later and kick Souta out so that she could dress.

Souta shrugged and went downstairs to tell his mother that Kagome would be down in a couple of minutes. Mrs. Higurashi thanked him and ruffled his hair playfully as he ran out the door, only to turn around and find Kagome catching her breath while looking for her shoes at the same time.

Nadeshiko smiled as she watched her daughter, but at the same time tried to place where she had seen that dress before. It was a sleeveless dark blue dress with a V-neck that ended mid-knee with large light blue roses printed on it, and as she watched the skirt twirl with every turn that Kagome made, she finally remembered where Kagome had gotten the dress from. Her father; and after he had died, Nadeshiko thought that she would never see Kagome wear that dress, but apparently, she was wrong.

Kagome approached her mother finally with a little piece of toast sticking out of her mouth, and within the blink of an eye, the two Higurashi women hopped into the car and drove off to the train station.

* * *

Kitai slowly walked down the corridor to Kouga's bedroom, where the door was open slightly. She pushed her head in to see if Kouga was awake yet, which she highly doubted but still wanted to see if he was when he rolled over and looked her straight in the eye.

"Where the hell are you going?"

"To the train station."

"Why the hell would _you_ be going to the train station at 8.30 on a freaking _Saturday_ morning? Who the hell are you meeting there?"

"I'm going to meet Kagome-chan, Koug..."

"KAGOME?! Why didn't you say so? I'd be more than glad to give you a lift."

Kouga jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom not even noticing how wounded Kitai looked, but it was not her place to say who Kouga should or should not like so she bowed stiffly to the empty room, put on a sad smile and left before Kouga came out of the bathroom and discover her with a half broken heart.

* * *

A tanned arm snaked its way from under the warm covers to answer a cell phone that had been left on silent after a day full of board meetings. The arm retreated back under the covers with the flipped open cell phone and soon a rather pissed off youkai sat up in his bed, his eyes narrowed dangerously and his nostrils flaring.

"To hell with you monk. Call back this phone and I will kick your ass. Understood?"

"Yes I understand Nemura-san, but do you think you could put Inuyasha on the phone for a se...."

Inutaisho clapped the phone shut and threw it on the floor, pulled the sheets back up over his head and waited patiently for when he would hear the phone ring again. About ten seconds later, he heard a telephone ring in another room in the house. For the moment, he sighed with relief when he heard Miroku blowing the car horn.

"Shit."

In the next room, Inuyasha lazily picked up his cell phone and flipped it open.

"Who the fuck is this?"

"Well good morning you ray of sunshine."

"Who the fuck _is_ this?"

"I fell hurt that you don't even recognise the voice of your best friend Inuyasha. How could you?"

"Bull shit, what time is it?" the pissed off, half asleep hanyou asked. He stretched and scratched his head, then his ears swivelled in the direction of the horrendous noise that came from in front of the house. Ah yes, the sweet soothing serenade of Miroku's car horn. Damn the bastard for getting up so damn early on a fricking Saturday.

"It's 8.45, Inuyasha, and if you don't hurry up we're gonna be late."

As soon as the hanyou heard 8.45, his blood boiled. What could the monk _possibly_ want Inuyasha for before 12 on a Saturday? Everyone, _especially_ Miroku, knew that unless you had a death wish, you didn't call or come over before 12, because either Inuyasha would kick your ass or his dad would have the police escort you home in their 'charriot'.

"Late for what, you freaking idiot?! And since when was there two nines on a Saturday? I'm going back to bed."

"The hell you are." a gruff voice said. Inuyasha looked around and only saw his father, a very pissed off inu youkai, who had bags under his eyes, his arms tightly folded across his chest, a scowl written across every part of his tired face and a low and menacing growl emanating from his throat and filling the entire room.

"The hell I ain't." Inuyasha shouted back, before the closing his cell phone and throwing it over into a pile of clothes, and even though Miroku's connection to Inuyasha was broken, he knew exactly what was coming next, all he had to do was keep blowing his horn and Inutaisho would do the rest....

Back upstairs, Inutaisho had currently cornered his hanyou and towering over him with a seriously pissed look on his face, his growl getting louder every time Miroku notched up the volume on his car horn. It was times like this that Inuyasha wished he had annoying neighbours who would call the police for Miroku's ass. But alas, living on a huge estate had its drawbacks.

Inutaisho grabbed Inuyasha by the hair and dragged him down the hall with the abused inu hanyou yelling at the other end. But none of this deterred the sleepy youkai from manhandling his son, the only thing Inuyasha was grateful for was the fact that Sesshoumaru wasn't there to watch him get dragged down the hallway by his long silvery hair.

"I'm sorry son, but if that damn monk didn't have any goddamned rights, I would've beaten him from now 'til thy kingdom come." Inutaisho said from somewhere in front of Inuyasha. The hanyou snorted as he was shoved into the bathroom and the door was locked behind him. And to think, it was the bathroom built especially for him and Sesshoumaru so that they couldn't jump out the window and escape. Such a shame that their father was so prepared, eh?

"So why didn't you call the cops then?" he shouted to his father (who he knew was standing outside the door) with a smug look on his face, thinking that his old man hadn't thought of that yet, not knowing that his old man had thought much further ahead than was expected.

"No, that wouldn't work, they always put you on hold, and besides, you know I have a board meeting today, and I can't stay here and waste time waiting for a bunch of overweight guys just to get rid of Miroku. So I figure, give the kid what he wants, and I get what I want. A perfect win-win situation."

"Except I'm the only one that looses out, you forgot that part." he said crossly to Inutaisho as he came out the bathroom, steam billowing around his equally steamy form. Smirking down at the dripping wet boy, Inutaisho lifted his head to the heavens, laughed, looked back down at Inuyasha with an enormous grin, and after putting his hand on Inuyasha's shoulder he gave his divine explanation.

"Inuyasha, as your father, you mean the world to me, but as a business man who has a very important board meeting in 2 hours, I don't give a shit about what you want."

And with that, Inutaisho guided Inuyasha into a room in which he could dress and then he, literally, threw Inuyasha out of the house, waving at the two in Miroku's car before marching back inside to get the rest of his sleep before the damned idiots on the board started to jump down his throat.

"Oi, you stupid monk, just where the hell are you taking me?"

"To the train station, my dear friend."

"Why the hell would we go there?"

"You'll soon see my friend. You'll soon see."

* * *

Kagome jumped out of the car and ran towards the platform in search of a silver haired, dog-eared (A/n: hey that rhymed :3) form, but so far, she had no luck. She was beginning to wonder if Kouga had indeed posed a threat to her being there by waking up much earlier than was expected when she felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind and pull her close to the owner, presumably male, so that she could feel the tight muscles in his stomach.

At first all she could do was blush fiercely, while her mind was racing at a speed that was thought to be unreachable, probably faster than mach 4 and/ or the speed of light. Her heart was out of control at this point in time as she became very flustered wondering who it was that was embracing her so tightly with a safe feeling of familiarity in his arms. Her miko senses were going haywire, probably due to how flustered she was and all they were telling her was that the person was a youkai.

Her eyes widened immediately as she felt him rest his head in the crook of her neck. 'What if it's that Hiten guy from yesterday? He _did_ say he wanted me to be his mate...so what if he overheard me talking to Kitai?' she thought, but this thought was immediately wiped from her mind when she remembered that he was out cold when she told Kitai to meet her at the train station. So who could it possibly be?

"Hello Kagome." a husky voice whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. Despite the unusual huskiness of the voice, she knew who it belonged to. Someone she was very familiar with.

"Kouga?"

"Hm?" he answered from his resumed perch in the crook of her neck as he began to rock from side to side with the red-faced girl in his arms. She had calmed down significantly since she realised that it was just him. Her delicate scent drifted into his nose and he had to keep his hormones in check before he did something rash and unexpected, which he didn't want to think about, lest he get himself more riffled up than he already was when someone ruined his perfect moment by talking.

"Ano...Kouga-sama?"

"Yes? What do you want Inori?"

From her spot behind him, the hanyou girl flinched involuntarily at the sound of her family name. He only did that when she interrupted something important or spoke to him when he was in a bad mood, and this time, she believed it to be the former.

"Well, come _on_ Inori, spit it out."

"A train just arrived and well, I think I just saw Inuyasha-san and...."

"And who? Dammit, answer me woman, I can't read your mind y' know."

Kouga spun around with Kagome still enveloped in his arms and stared at the unusually silent hanyou who just stared off into space with a red-hot blush on her pale face. Next to her stood a happy Miroku with his right hand hidden from view with his arm moving up and down, then it struck them both what was happening. Kagome narrowed her eyes dangerously at the monk, who was eyeing them with great interest, an eyebrow arched and when he spoke his arm dropped from the behind of a highly embarrassed female hanyou, who had since lowered her gaze to look at her shoes.

"Since when did this happen?"

"Since when did what....it's not what it looks like!" Kagome exclaimed as she freed herself from Kouga's grasp, her face about to explode from all the blood rushing to it. Miroku grinned and struck a pose that clearly said "Sure it doesn't". It was then that Kouga spoke up.

"We were merely showing off the special kind of love that lives within us," at this Kagome's mouth dropped and Kitai's head picked up slightly with a hurt look on her face, a look that Kagome hadn't quite missed, then Kouga turned his attention to someone other than Miroku and continued, "something that Inukuro over there would know about. Right Inukuro?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" a rough voice retorted back, shoving past Kitai, who instinctively looked up and tried to cover up her feelings with her usually chirpy disposition and greeted him with a happy sounding, "Ohayo Inuyasha-kun."

"Shut up." he barked back at the younger hanyou, who was slightly taken aback by his rather rude response. Sure, he was _always_ rude to her, but he never told her to shut up before, and this, on top of all the other things that happened since she woke up, just crumbled over her head, and she did something she rarely did, even for a person of her nature. She cried.

"Holy shit..."

"What?" asked Miroku, and when he turned around, he just took a look at her huge golden eyes filling up with water and his shoulders drooped and his head flew back so that he could look at the heavens and then he turned to look at Inuyasha.

"Look at what you did Inuyasha, you made her cry. Are you happy now?"

"Well it's her own damn fault for being so freaking stupid. And what are they doing here anyway?"

Now this really got Kagome going, not only had he been rude to Kitai, he made her cry, and on top of that, had the nerve to ask what they were doing there in the first place. How could one person be so rude, mean, unapologetic and stupid?

"Inu-ya-sha...." she said dangerously, you know, like her 'sit' voice?

"What are you calling me for wench?"

"Apologize..."

"No, and besides it's her own damn fault for being so stupid."

"All she said was good morning."

"I don't care. She's not crying anymore just look at her!" he said hysterically, pointing at Kitai who had long since stopped crying and was now staring confusedly at a lollipop that some random stranger gave her. Kouga was rolling his eyes while Miroku was explaining why the stranger gave it to her. All of this got Kagome even more fired up. He thought that since she wasn't crying anymore, he didn't have to apologize?

"I don't care you idiot, you're going to apologize because you made her cry." she ground out, staring at Inuyasha poisonously. For a reply, he folded his arms across his chest, snorted and looked in the other direction. He was about to say something when someone else spoke up.

"Show me who made Kagome cry, and I'll cut their head off with my katana." someone said darkly as they walked out of the crowd and into view. Miroku turned around and his jaws dropped immediately, even though he had to admit to himself that she did look a little rough around the edges, Miroku could tell that she was definitely something special, like a diamond.

Her attire was simple: a pair of jeans, some sneakers, and a fairly close fitting T-shirt, and her demeanor was threatening. Her burgundy eyes alive with a fire he had yet to see in anyone else but Kagome, and he was simply in awe of how strong a girl she would have to be to hold such a large boomerang over her shoulder like it was nothing but a bag of groceries. Her dark chocolate brown hair was by her waist and tied up near the tips of her hair. She had such a ferocious beauty about her that it had him absolutely speechless, which was a difficult task in itself. To put it simply, he was in love with this Amazon that was Kagome's friend, and nothing could change that, unless she had an equally beautiful twin sister. 'Ah yes, twins...' he thought as he rubbed his chin with a look on his face that no-one could mistake for anything else but "Journey to Chikan Land- Hentaisha only"

"Ano...is something wrong Hentai-kun? You have this weird look on your face. Are you sick?"

"No Kitai, that's just his pervert-mode face, so I suggest you stay away."

Kagome turned around and saw the menacing girl standing there with the large bone boomerang in her hand, having a glaring contest with Inuyasha. A large grin spread across her face when she saw a slightly smaller form drag out a couple of large duffle bags with a not so amused look on her face.

"Geez Sango, the least you could do is help with the bags, but nooooo, the first thing you do is run off and attempt to beat the living daylights out of the first punk you see, instead of helping poor Rin with the bags. Oh. Hey Kagome, 'sup."

Inuyasha snorted and turned away in the other direction, while Miroku, Kouga and Kitai walked up to greet Kagome's friends from Onoda. Sango ran a critical eye over them and then looked back at Kagome. Grinning, she dumped the boomerang on the floor and went up to hug her best friend.

"It's nice to see you Kag. I hope that you've been feeding my cat, if not I'd be forced to kill you." she said jokingly to the slightly shorter miko who grinned in return at the older taijiya. She turned her attention to Rin who was struggling with the few bags, let alone the heavy bone boomerang that Sango had left on the ground.

"Oi Sango, Rin would like you to pick this up."

"Yeah, yeah Rin. I'll get around to that just keep your pants on. And for God's sake Rin, your 20, don't you think that you should stop referring to yourself in third person?" Sango said as she picked up hiraikotsu and attached it to her necklace where it was consumed in a whirling mist that continually got smaller until all that was left of the hiraikotsu was a tiny charm on Sango's silver necklace.

"Oh Sango-san, that was so cool, do you think that you could do that again?" a bright eyed hanyou asked her. The young girl was still staring at the charm hiraikotsu, while Sango was staring at the top of the girl's head, which had the faintest smell of Herbal Essences.

"Sango, meet Kitai. Kitai, Sango." Kagome said happily as she saw her mother go up to Rin and start talking while they both struggled with the duffle bags, while Miroku offered to help them, and surprisingly, Kouga as well. Kitai bowed to Sango, who then bowed to Kitai, and Kagome looked crossly over in Inuyasha's direction while he was deeply contemplating walking home.

"Ah, now that all the bags have been packed into the car, Kagome-sama, why don't you introduce me to your two lovely lady friends." Miroku said from somewhere behind Kagome, his voice oozing with every ounce of charm that the monk possessed in his body. Kagome turned around and glared at Miroku who had on a rather charming smile, which, had she not known of his lecherous tendencies, would make him look quite debonair.

"No."

"Why not?" he said in a very taken aback voice. She narrowed her eyes dangerously at him, but he still looked at her with that shocked/hurt look on his face. It was then that she realised how good an actor he was.

"You know why."

"Why must you always make me out to be a perv?"

"Because you ARE a perv."

"Kagome-sama, I'm hurt that you would say such a thing." he said, pretending to sound hurt, and then Rin was the first to fall into his trap. The poor fool, had she known he was acting...she might've smacked him upside the head with Sango's hiraikotsu. But alas, another one bit the dust.

"Oh, Kagome, I'm sure he isn't as bad as you make him out to be," Rin said as she walked over to Miroku, ignoring Kagome's "No, really, you shouldn't"s, "I mean look at him. He looks so harmless, he probably wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Five bucks says he would."

"Whatever Kagome. Hello, I'm Okazaki Rin, and you are?"

"Me? I am Shigeta Miroku." He then brought Rin's hand to his lips where he gently brushed some of her knuckles with his lips in manner of a kiss. Rin giggled and blushed as he went down on bended knee and stared into her eyes. 'Oh kami, here it comes...

3...

2...

1...

"My lovely lady Rin..."

"Yes Miroku?"

"Will you please bear my child?"

Kagome swore that she heard a discordant piano playing in the background, the way Rin reacted. She just stood there for several minutes looking down at the ever-hopeful Miroku, and then...she walked away.

"You were right Kagome, he is a perv." She spoke in a weird, quiet way, probably because she was still in shock. Having lived in Onoda for her entire life, one would imagine that Rin was suffering from severe culture shock. Damn lecher Miroku.

Sango stared at Miroku with one of her eyebrows arched. He wasn't bad looking; actually, she thought he was kind of handsome, he had an executive look about him, like he was born to live at the top of the food chain, even if he was just some horny teenage boy. He would've been a very likeable guy, had his mind not been thriving off the gutter water. She rolled her eyes and turned her back to him, trying to engage Rin in conversation.

That was when Kouga had returned and they were now standing together as a group, and then something caught Kitai's eye. They all watched as her eyes went large, and then her lips curled into a smile when she began to tug on Kouga's sleeve.

"What do you want?"

She looked up at him and then pointed at something in the distance. He followed the direction she was pointing in and then his face took on a kind of impatient look. He looked down at her, and he squared his jaw when she gave him the puppy dog eyes. Shaking his head he looked in the other direction, refusing to give in to her in public, it was embarrassing when she did that.

"No. I'm not buying you any."

The two now occupied everyone's interest when Kitai's grip on Kouga's sleeve got tighter and her eyes began to water, but Kouga continued to look in the other direction with a very stern almost paternal look on his face. It was obvious to them that she wasn't getting whatever it was that she wanted, but what they were now interested in knowing was, was it obvious to her?

Soon, they all heard a soft whimpering, as she continued to tighten her grip on Kouga's sleeve. They all knew that he could hear her, and they could see that he was trying his best to ignore her, I mean, he closed his eyes and everything, but nothing seemed to work. Just out of curiosity, he turned to look at her, and her bottom lip began to tremble.

"Cut it out, I already said that I'm not gonna buy you any, and I'm not gonna buy you any. So what are you trying to prove?" he asked icily, trying to get his point across to her, but it didn't seem to work, she just continued to ebb away his resolve with those watery eyes, but just when he thought that he had won, she planted her butt on the ground and grabbed onto his leg and whimpered even louder, and to make it worse, she began to nuzzle his leg.

Passers-by started to stare at them and he was well aware that everyone was staring at them and that Miroku had probably gone into ultra hentai-mode by now. He tried to make her get up off the floor, but she refused, not that he was worried about her claws digging into his leg (because he already had them clipped), but because he was ashamed to have a whimpering hanyou girl clinging to his leg.

"Would you stop that? Everyone's staring at us." He hissed down at her, but she still refused to get up, and by now, he was sure that all the tears that were collecting in her eyes were probably running down her face by now because of how tightly her eyes were closed. He glared at the top of her head, and then let out a nasal sigh. His defeat had come at last, and she knew it, and he knew that she knew it, because he began to feel her grip on his leg loosen.

"FINE, I'll buy the damn thing for you if you just get off the freaking floor."

She looked up into his icy blue eyes, at first, with just a blank face, then her lips slowly formed a smile, and then she beamed up at him. He folded his arms over his chest and looked away, waiting for her to move. Suddenly, without warning, she jumped up into the air, like a hyper three year old.

"YAY!" she exclaimed as she skipped along behind Kouga, who was holding his head down out of shame, and then the two disappeared into the crowd. Kagome was just stunned, while Inuyasha was shaking his head, but then he began to smirk a haughty smirk, while Miroku was still in ultra hentai-mode.

"Is that kinda thing normal in these parts?"

"To tell you the truth, I really don't know."

Rin was just speechless, and they all watched Kouga as he returned to the group with a seriously pissed off look, while Kitai skipped behind him, her cheerful smile radiating throughout the crowd, but when they saw what she had, they had mixed reactions. Sango burst out laughing, Inuyasha was shocked, Miroku was still in ultra hentai-mode and Kagome and Rin just stared at the unusually happy hanyou girl. Inuyasha just shook his head in disapproval and turned his back to the approaching duo.

That was what she wanted? What she wanted so badly that she publicly degraded herself, humiliated Kouga, and even lowered peoples' views of inu hanyou to get? Even Miroku was shocked, but he still managed to carry it to the ultimate level of hentai-ness. This was what she needed to have so desperately? This was what it took to make her happy?

........

An ice cream cone?

She stood in front of the group, happily licking away at the chocolate ice cream, with Kouga standing next to her, his hands in his pockets looking to his left because he knew that she was on his right, and he had the tiniest of blushes on his face, from the embarrassment of course. Sango just pointed at Kouga and laughed even harder, managing to say "Looser" in between breathes. He glared at her, when his attention was suddenly caught by a tiny smidge of brown the hanyou's nose. Shaking his head, he turned his entire body to face her.

"You can't even eat the stupid thing properly."

"Eh?" she said, when she realised that he was speaking to her, turning to look at him, her head cocked to a side in confusion. He grabbed her chin and his thumb made a quick wipe over her nose, making her blush a little at the kind gesture. Sango had since quieted down and watched intently as a rosy pink blush appeared on the young hanyou's cheeks. Without even thinking, Kouga put the thumb in his mouth and then pulled it back out, without any trace of the chocolate ice cream that he had wiped off the hanyou's nose.

'Aw, those two are such a cute couple ...' Rin thought as she watched the two, who were still an item of public interest. It was at this time that Kagome brought up the idea that they should all go somewhere instead of stand up at the train station like a bunch of idiots, and of course having nothing better to do, they all agreed...some more willingly than others.

"So, how are we going to get where we're going?

"Well, _originally_, we were going to catch the bus so that Sango and Rin could get accustomed to the city, but since you three showed up....we might have to alter our plans slightly."

"I say, we just leave the youkai, the hanyou and the pervert here, and we go out with the original plan. No sense in altering our perfectly good plan for the uninvited." Sango said suddenly with a sense of distance in her voice. Everyone directed their attention to Sango, as she stared over at the ice-cream parlour on the other side of the street with slight interest. Maybe living in Tokyo wasn't as bad an idea as had she thought.

"Hey, why don't we go to the ice cream parlour?" Rin piped up when she saw where Sango's gaze was directed. Kouga growled slightly, and Kagome was torn from her daze of wondering where to go first, overjoyed that someone had eased the impending headache, even if they had done it unintentionally.

"That's not a bad idea." Kagome said, still unaware of Kouga's growling, while Kitai was staring at her wolf boss, with wide child-like eyes as she continued to eat her ice cream, all the while not realising that they were asking them if they wanted to go. Well, maybe more Kouga than Kitai, but that's not the point.

He was pissed, obviously at Rin's suggestion, and at their blatant ignorance of his rising blood pressure, while the 'stupid' hanyou just stood there doing nothing. 'Absolutely useless.' he thought looking at her obliquely, as the group turned to face him, watching him, seeing as his shoulders were raised slightly and his bangs covered the rage filled orbs that had become his eyes.

"Uh, Kouga...?" a soft female voice eased out, her melodious calling card teasing his ears, but adding fuel to the fire that was burning within him.

"What is it?" he barked, having finally lifted his head, his fangs bared as he responded to his name being called. Kagome jumped backwards, her heart beating wildly after he startled with his response, and her eyes wide with shock, wondering why Kouga could possibly be so upset.

"Do you think it's funny that this bitch dragged me across the street, just to get some stinking ice cream cone? You think it's hilarious do you? Well, go ahead. Laugh, for all I care." he spat out; making everyone wonder what in the seven hells he was talking about. Did he think that they were making fun of him because they wanted to know if he wanted to go to the ice cream parlour them?

A silver haired form appeared in front the still taken aback, and slightly confused Kagome, the end of the skirt flapping due to the sheer speed of the movement. Kouga's attention was now diverted to the small hanyou in front him, who's presence he almost couldn't be bothered to acknowledge, but did anyway so as to spare Kagome from his wrath a little.

"Maybe we should go home Kouga-sama. I mean it's about a couple of hours before you're supposed to wake up and..."

"SHUT UP YOU!" he bellowed, causing Inuyasha's ears to hurt some and Kitai to shrink back, her ears drooping slightly, "I don't need this right now, got it? If I wanted your stupid half-breed opinion on anything, I would've asked for it. Understand?"

"But I just wanted to help..." she said timidly, her ears practically touching her neck as he towered over her, eyes ablaze with anger as he resisted the urge to maim her.

"I don't care!"

In a rare moment, Kouga got his hands involved with his talking, sending his arm flying outward, knocking the ice cream off its cone and right next to her feet. Her head made a jerky drop as she watched it fall, not even attempting to try and catch it much to everyone's surprise as they also watched it plummet to its grimy doom. Feeling something distinctly cold, Kouga looked at the back of his hand and wrinkled his nose in disgust as he looked at the large patch of brown on it.

"Oh great, now I have hanyou slobber all over my hand."

Taking out a handkerchief, he wiped his hand and absentmindedly threw it in the garbage when he heard a sniffle. Turning, he saw her staring at the fallen ice cream, her aura having a strange crestfallen feel to it as the wind blew between them all.

"What's the matter now?"

"...if only you knew..."

A single tear slid down her cheek as they all tried to make sense of her absurd response. He was about to ask her again, being irritated that he didn't get one the first time he asked, when an arm appeared in front of her. It was the taijiya's and the look on her face was dead serious as she stared Kouga in the eye

"Maybe you two can sort this out later, but for now, let's just enjoy the day."

Miroku smiled to himself as he added a new good attribute to a mental list of Sango he was making. She was a good person, even though she appeared all hard core, and punk like, and it was about time he had something other than physical qualities on his list, which so far comprised of:

1.Nice ass(that's like the first thing he looked at anyway)

2.Firm Thighs

3.Full lips

4.Perky boobs(A/n: oh Miroku, you witless perverted fool ::sighs::)

5.Fairly wide hips

6.Bad girl appearance(that line from Catwoman comes to mind here...)

7.Sleek Physique, and last but not least...

8. A caring personality

He sighed inwardly as he stared at the back of his dream woman, his mind slowly taking him to his world of perverted fantasies. The wind blew her chocolate brown hair, making it look lively and appealing, while Miroku began having a rather...vivid daydream, which involved him, her and her hiraikotsu. Yes, you heard me right, her hiraikotsu. Damn lecher.

Without even realising it, he had said out loud that he loved being kinky, causing Inuyasha to give him a disturbed side-glance as he continued to daydream with a contented smile on his face.

"Why the hell would I want to know that you liked being kinky?" Inuyasha asked, still disturbed by the monk's earlier statement, beginning to grow even more disturbed when he noted the contented look on the monk's face before he realised that he was being spoken to.

"Not with you Inuyasha, I mean with Sango."

"The hell you do." he said as he took a step away from the monk as they crossed the road and entered the ice cream parlour. It was a nice looking place, with soft pale colours that seemed to invite you in and make you feel at home. Rin clapped her hands in joy as she looked around.

They sat down in one of the U shaped seats, only to discover that only five people could be seated comfortably and the three men got up and went to the bar instead, leaving the girls to spread out, what with the extra room and all. Sango looked around in mild interest, while Rin gawked at almost everything in the room.

"Wow, this place reminds me of one of those '50s hangout places that they had in America. You know, the ones on TV?"

"I know what you mean, Kagome. And they even have one of those old fashioned juke boxes over there." Rin said ecstatically, pointing over at some large red and white object that was on the wall not to far from where the boys sat.

"That's because the owner of this place is American," a female voice said to the four young women, causing three of them to turn around, " I'm your waitress, and I was wondering if you'd like to order yet."

"Order?"

"Yeah," the youkai waitress said lazily, her tail swaying behind her, " this is a diner/ ice cream parlour. So, here are the menus, and if you don't mind, try to make it quick, I have a score to settle with some punks at the counter."

She jerked her head in the direction of Inuyasha and the rest before she placed the menus on the table. Taking one look at the unopened menu, Kitai pushed it in front of her and shook her head, saying that she didn't want anything to eat. Her spiky bangs prevented her eyes from being seen by the others sitting at the table. The youkai waitress watched her in interest, the obviously miserable hanyou reflecting in her blue-green eyes.

"I'll be right back," she said, picking up the menu in front of Kitai, "and you'd better be ready to order when I do."

"Wow, a youkai waitress," Rin said thoughtfully, with her index finger resting on her chin, "I wonder what kind she is."

"Most likely a cat, you can tell by the way she carries herself, like she's not really interested, and she's got somewhere else to be. What do you think Kagome?"

"I agree with you Sango, although I think it was the tail and the slit pupils that gave her away. What do you think Kitai?"

The said hanyou remained silent, looking down at her skirt while she half-heartedly played with the hem. Her aura screamed of misery, and Kagome thought that Kitai reminded Kagome of herself when she had first arrived in Tokyo, still mourning the death of her father. 'Father...'

* * *

Sesshoumaru, sat on his couch, looking around his clean dorm room, only to look at the other bedroom, where his new roommate was supposed to be sleeping in soon. If anyone had walked in at that specific moment, only to see his usual deadpan expression, they would have had no idea of the questions running through his head. Looking around, he surveyed the entire dorm, which he had to pay extra money for mind you, and growled slightly when he realised that all this space was no longer his, but had to be shared with some guy named 'Rin' that was supposed to be moving in today.

In an effort to pass the time, he wondered what kind of name was 'Rin' for a guy. It had to be a human name, because no youkai in their right mind would name their son 'Rin', but a little voice in the back of his head kept nagging him with a question that he kept trying to pass off as absurd, only making him think about it even more.

'What if Rin is a girl? Is Rin even a guy's name?'

He snorted at his own desperation, and a smirk began to play on his usually lifeless lips. Running his fingers through his hair, he cast a sidelong glance expecting this 'Rin' girl to burst through the door at any moment, her sweet scent filling the room, then replayed the image in his head, this time replacing the beautiful women with a scrawny guy wearing baggy clothes and a woman in each arm.

Either way, he knew that the entire dorm was no longer his, so he could no longer do as he pleased, like spending hours in the only bathroom, or, occasionally walking around the dorm. Stark naked. (A/n: hey, who said Sesshoumaru wasn't entitled to his weird moments) Once again, he smirked wondering what would the female Rin's reaction to that would be, imagining her fainting because she was so innocent, and he was so...naked. He had to chuckle at that thought, hoping that whatever sex this 'Rin' person came out to be, it wouldn't end up being a battle of wills to show who was more dominant.

Because then he would have to show them what _this_ Sesshoumaru was capable of.

* * *

Miroku watched the neko youkai waitress return out of the corner of his eye, while next to him Inuyasha was showing how much a hungry inu hanyou could eat. Looking at his friend devour his third hamburger, Miroku shook his head and hoped for Kouga's sake that Kitai didn't eat like that.

"Inuyasha, I think that you can calm down. The burger isn't going anywhere you know."

"I have the metabolism of a youkai, what the hell did you expect?"

"You may have the metabolism of a youkai, but you sure as hell don't have the brains of one." Kouga sneered, looking across at Inuyasha eat with the slightest hint of disgust. One thing for sure, he was glad as all hell that Kitai didn't eat like that. Or else he'd have to kick her out.

"This coming from the wolf that caved in to a little whimpering from his bitch."

"Oi, listen you two asswipes, you do any damage in here, and I'll rip you to shreds, kick your sorry asses out and make you pay for the whole freaking remodelling, y'hear me?" a voice growled from directly behind the two.

"Ah, my dear lady..."

"And listen you lecher, if you try to touch my ass again, I swear I'll tear you hands off, cut off your balls, shove 'em in a blender and pour the remains down your fricking throat. You understand me?"

He nodded silently as the neko youkai stalked away, and the other two had long since stopped bickering. Was it just them or did she seem extremely pissed off for some strange reason, when she zipped past them, her scent wafting innocently into their noses. What the hell was it with this specific time of year that so many women were in heats?

Inuyasha acted as if unfazed, after all, she _was_ a cat, but then again, Kagome _was_ a miko, and he still wondered what she would smell like when she was at her peak. He shook his head as he cleared this thought, then turned to look at Kagome, the way she always seemed so animated, and how her raven locks bounced all around her lithe form, a nice contrast to her slightly tanned skin, which looked so supple and silky smooth that he just wanted to....

"Fuck."

"What the hell's your problem? The scent of me in heats isn't killing you is it?" the waitress ground out, her green-blue eyes hardly visible through the slits that had become her eyelids. Inuyasha snapped back to the neko waitress and returned a glare almost as icy as the one he received.

She sighed and walked back to the girl's table where she took their orders and went off about her business, leaving them to chat amongst themselves once again. They all looked very lively, except for Kitai, who was probably still moping after that little episode that morning. Inuyasha snorted as he paid attention to the remainder of his food, smirking down at it. And they thought that _he_ didn't have any manners.

Ten minutes later

"How long does it take them to eat anyway?" Inuyasha said impatiently as he flat out glared at the girls while they ate, apparently trying to cheer up their depressed comrade. The waitress sauntered past them and poked Kouga in the back of his head, making him jump out of his seat and look around rather sharply.

"No sleeping on the counters wolf, unless you want to clean it up yourself."

"Make me, you stinking cat."

"Um, Kouga, maybe you shouldn't try to pick fights, when she obviously has the home field advantage." Miroku pointed out from his newly acquired position in between the hanyou and the wolf.

"Home field advantage, my ass. What are a bunch of _waiters_ gonna do, hunh?"

The neko waitress rolled her eyes and walked over to where the girls were flagging her down for the bill. Anything to get away from the three stooges that were sitting down at the counter.

"How you put up with those bastards, I will never know." she said as she put the bill in front Kagome, who instantly began to rummage in her bag, as well as Rin and Sango. Kitai also began to look for something in her pocket. Slapping a fifty down on the table, she shoved it towards the waitress.

"That's your tip."

"And this is to take care of the bill." Kagome said triumphantly as the waitress took all the money and bowed to them.

"Make sure to come back again. Maybe without the asses the next time." she said as they walked out the door, waving their goodbyes to her as they re-entered the noisy population of Tokyo city.

* * *

Once again, we find one Sesshoumaru seated on the couch looking at the door expectantly. The more he thought about it, the more he supposedly liked the idea, because since he now had to take a roommate (blast all the other dorms for being crowded to capacity), his dorm would now cost about the same amount of all the rooms in this forgotten hellhole called a university.

The time was passing by slowly as he still expected this Rin to burst through the door in a flurry of liveliness and colour; bringing some much needed life into the dead 'apartment'. Their things had long since arrived, brought by some small woman who was almost up to his shoulder. The soft feminine scent lingering around the bags confirmed the thoughts of his bored and what he liked to think of as horny subconscious. Rin was indeed a woman.

So now, there he was, bored out of his skull and began to pass the time by wondering what kind of woman Rin was. She was no demon, her scent had confirmed that, so what kind of human was she? If she had been a demon, it would have been so much easier to say what kind she was, because the women of the demon variety only came in one kind as far as he was concerned, and that was beautiful. So all he knew was that he had just missed a foxy demon temptress, and that thought alone was enough to put him in a depression for the next couple of centuries.

Was she fat? Skinny? Voluptuous? _Bald_? A shiver ran down his spine as he pictured a tall lanky woman strolling in with thick square framed glasses you used to see in the eighties with duct tape keeping them in one piece as she breathed through her mouth, her hair kept back in a ponytail, not forgetting to mention the bald patch she sported on the top of her head, leaving one lone patch to stand out like an island.

Sure, it sounds bad now, but what if she had a crush on him? His eyes widened involuntarily at the thought. What if some human girl developed a crush on him? More importantly, what if he began to develop a crush on her too? He slapped his forehead for even entertaining the thought for just a second, then he rushed his claws through his long silky hair for what seemed to be the fiftieth time for the day. He sat back, not even realising that he had sat forward to begin with in the first place and decided that he needed something to sober him up, only to realise that he had nothing to do just that.

How amusing he thought it was that he, Sesshoumaru, son of Nemura Inutaisho, was practically scaring himself shitless over some pathetic human girl, who would be sharing his 'apartment' with him. If Inuyasha could only see him now, his great half brother, the full blooded demon, nervous of what could happen when Rin finally got there, revealing her to himself after a whole damn day of stressing out, wondering what she looked like.

But no matter how many times he began to stress himself out, a part of him kept him calm, telling him that it was going to be okay, that there was nothing he should have to worry about.

That Rin was everything he desired. That she was more, a little and then some of what he expected of her.

* * *

Kagome sat in the backseat of Miroku's car, watching as all the scenery passed her by. Miroku was trying his hardest to engage Sango in conversation, while she stubbornly refused to give in and Inuyasha was just as silent as she was, which meant that Miroku was the only one talking in the car, preventing Kagome from slipping away from the world and into her thoughts.

Even though she had a good time at the mall with the others, there was something that was nagging her ever since the diner. Kitai was so miserable, reminding Kagome of herself when she had first got there, and when she thought about why she was there in the first place, she too began to become miserable, although she didn't allow for it to show. No sense in getting everyone all worked up over some heartache that was eventually going to go away as she got older, right?

"Hey Kagome."

"Yeah?"

"What college did Rin say she was going to?"

"That's none of your damn business you pervert."

A sad smile graced her face as she heard Sango beginning to yell at Miroku, obviously just a little peeved about the groping incident in the mall that earned him the hardest slap he had ever gotten in his life. As Kagome remembered, Sango's face was pink with embarrassment, and for that, Miroku's cheek was still pink from Sango's 'ministrations'.

"As I was saying my dear Kagome, where did you say Rin was going?"

"I dunno, ask Sango."

"My dear lady Sang..."

"Don't. Even. Think. About it."

From her seat behind Inuyasha, she could see Miroku smile sweetly as if Sango was staring at him. Maybe he knew that she was glaring at the back of his head. Kagome mused the possibility of this when Inuyasha brought back his seat, so that he was more or less lying down in the seat, squeezing Kagome's legs between her seat and the back of his seat.

"Inu-yas-ha..."

Miroku sighed defeatedly as Inuyasha ignored the girl that was behind him, who in turn pulled one of his ears to get his attention. It was going to be a long ride home, and hopefully, just maybe this one time, the gods would let him get home without running off the road...

* * *

Rin got out of the front seat of Kouga's car, thanking him before she shut the door, slightly waking the hanyou who was sleeping in the back seat, but immediately drifted off to sleep after Rin waved her goodbye.

She watched as the engine roared to life once more before the black car zoomed off into the night. Turning, she recollected vaguely that Kouga had said something about having some thing scheduled with someone he had called 'dog-turd', but she hadn't taken him too seriously until she saw him drive off like a bat out of hell. People now a days.

Now she had to turn her attention to her current problem, she had to find her new room, which she would share with some person named Sesshoumaru. The most she had been told was that the dorm was on the second floor, well, she _had_ been told something else, but she had zoned out. She always knew that paying attention had its benefits, it's just a tragedy that she never really learned how to.

"Er, excuse me." she said to a girl that was about to pass her. Her hair was up in a bun that was wrapped with a cherry red cloth and had two feathers sticking out. She peeped up at Rin from beneath her neatly parted bangs, before she held her head up, drawing herself to her full height, which was just about the same height as Rin.

"What do you want?" she said as she stared Rin in the eye with those creepy crimson coloured orbs. Rin smiled sheepishly at her, wondering how to properly word her predicament.

"I'm, uh, looking for my dorm room."

"You're new here, aren't you?"

"Yeah, well..." she said, looking up at the ceiling before looking at the girl in front her with a grin on her face. The girl also smiled, her pink lips standing out from her fairly pale face, before she stuck out her hand in a friendly way.

"I'm Kagura. You?"

"Rin."

"So what room are you staying in?"

Rin laughed lightly and then looked at Kagura, with a sheepish grin that clearly said, "I dunno." or "I forgot." Kagura shook her head in a clearly disappointed way, but continued to smile at Rin anyway.

"I do know that I'm supposed to be rooming with a person named Sesshoumaru."

"Sesshoumaru?"

Rin nodded as Kagura took her by the elbow to the place where both her dreams and nightmares would come through. A sigh escaped her as she wondered if Rin knew just what she was getting into. Sure he was good looking, but that didn't prevent him from jealously guarding the log that was lodged up his ass. Yes, I said a log. The man was totally removed from the world, probably spending time tending to the stick that was up his ass, making sure that it was growing at a normal, healthy rate, making it the log that it was today.

And at the second floor, a smirk crept onto her features as she wondered what was in store for the estranged youkai and the perkily idiotic girl that she was practically hauling to her doom....

* * *

Both Kagome and Sango slammed the doors on Miroku's car as they got out, both storming towards Kagome's house in a very similar fashion. Inuyasha's ears were red from the amount of pulling they got and Miroku was sure that his neck was broken from the way Sango nearly choked him to death when they were veering off the road and into a ditch. Buddha was not on his side today, but at least it wasn't his fault this time.

Miroku rubbed his neck slightly as he watched the girls walk through the door, neither of them looking back at the two of them. Inuyasha had long since brought the seat back up to its upright position with a little help from Kagome after they had swerved off the road. It was a funny sight to see, as they argued and fought about who was right and who was wrong, and when they both went to do what they thought was right, they brushed each other and blushed so hard it wasn't too hard to see them in the dark. It was then that the chair flew back into its proper position and hit Inuyasha in his head, sending it into Kagome's chest. Once again, they blushed so hard it was almost neon.

One thing for sure, Inuyasha never acted like this around Kikyo, and this was supposedly the one he was in love with, and when Miroku pointed this out, he earned the large lump that was perched precariously on top his head. With a light chuckle that earned him a hard stare from the peeved Inuyasha, Miroku pulled away from the curb and drove off, mindful of the brown haired beauty that was staring, although rather obliquely, at him through the window.

* * *

Rin watched as Kagura ran down the corridor, laughing like some sort of mad person, earning her some stares from the people whom she nearly ploughed into. Shrugging it off, Rin opened the door, her head still turned in the direction in which Kagura had run off and prepared to inspect every single inch of her new home. She was nowhere near prepared for what she saw when she walked in.

She didn't know where to start. Her eyes opened wide as she looked at around from her spot at the door. The curtains were neatly pulled back allowing for a view of the city that she had yet to see. There were plants in some of the corners and much to her surprise; they were all a healthy green colour. The couch was clear of everything except for a few cushions, but of all the things that she admired the most, it was the floor.

It was so shiny, she could see her reflection, even though it was slightly distorted, in it, and she swore that it sparkled, like the floors on TV. So entranced was she, that she was almost afraid to step on it, but she took off her shoes and did anyway. It had a pleasant cool feeling against her feet, and she looked at the kitchen. Spotless. Everything was in such a state of cleanliness that she envied whoever it was that did this.

"Wow, I have to compliment whoever did this. She must put a lot into cleaning." Rin said to no one in particular as she continued to gaze with admiration onto the clean dorm.

"What makes you think that this Sesshoumaru is a girl?" a deep baritone voice asked her, making her stop dead in her tracks as shivers ran up her spine, just from the sheer masculinity of the voice. She slowly turned around and saw a god standing before her. Well, a demon. She saw a demon standing before her.

Long silver hair that clung to his wet body, an indigo crescent moon on his forehead, red purple marks on his cheeks and wrists, claws adorned his long elegant fingers and she began to blush as she looked at his entire profile. His beautiful porcelain skin and muscular body, not to mention the golden amber eyes boring into her wandering brown ones. That was when she realised something. No, it was not the drops of water rolling down his broad chest, although that alone was enough to make her jaw drop, but it was the large white towel that was loosely wrapped around the lower half of his body. He had just come out of the shower, and he tied the towel tighter as it began to slip.

This was her roommate? She thought she was going to be rooming with another female, not some hunk that looked like he just stepped off the catwalk or a billboard. Poor Rin, she was a good person, but at this point in time, she was wondering if she should be embarrassed, angry or happy. But we will assume by the flushed colouring of her face that she was embarrassed. So this was him? This was...

"Se...Sesshoumaru?"

'Just wait 'til the folks on my site hear about this latest development in the confusion that is my life.'

* * *

chikan-sexual pervert, but I suppose can be translated to roughly mean, molester.

Hentaisha-perverted people

Hikaru M.: GOTH BOY ROCKS!!! Oh hey, don't worry yourselves about that, you'll see what I'm talking about soon enough. Once again, I apologize for the atrociously horrendous nature of chapter three, my God did that suck. See, that's what happens when you slack off and then start packing three days, no, nights before you leave. ::sighs:: And this chapter, came to an interesting end as Rin mentions her website again, but still, these chapters are written during a creative frenzy that just spills out of my fingers, so imagine me typing away happily, only to feel the creativity dwindle away as the chapter drew to a close. Actually, it drew a close ever since they left the diner. Strange ain't it?

And now, the story has strayed so far from what it originally was. You see, in CAFAD, Kitai wasn't even supposed to be around, and Inuyasha wasn't supposed to be rich, I also refuse to mention the shiko-no-tama in any part of this story, because I wanted to be original, and not fall into the rut that I now find myself in. Honestly, Inuyasha is rich, filthy stinking, or filthy, stinking and poor. And I am no better. At any rate, I can tell you all about what CAFAD was born from, but that'll come in the next chapter.... which I haven't named yet. This could take a while folks, crappy chapter name, crappy chapter. But, don't forget to review. Ja ne


	5. The Dream

Hikaru m.: I APOLOGIZE FOR THE ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE CHAPTER THREE. There, now that I got that outta my system I'll state some lovely CAFAD facts....

**CAFAD fact #1: Did you know that Kitai was never actually supposed to be in the story Chasing A Far Away Dream?**Of course you wouldn't, but that's not the point. She was never supposed to be in this story, although she was in the horribly messed up original, but somehow she wormed her way into this version, and now I can't imagine ever having trying to write the story without her, for she is the proverbial glue of this story, and also a particular thing of interest to upcoming characters like...dun dun dun...GOTH BOY. Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I DO OWN INUYASHA, in the opposite sense. And now the real disclaimer...if you feel the need to sue me, take that up with my mother, because, she's the one with the money, and never once did I really, truly, actually said that I owned Inuyasha in a _serious_ sense...

Chasing A Far Away Dream

Chapter 5: The Dream

"Se...Sesshoumaru?"

"Do not call this Sesshoumaru unless you have something to say, wench." he said as he turned his back on her and walked away, leaving wet footprints on the clean floor. Rin was shocked to say the least. First, she was asked to bear someone's child, she ran into what seemed to be a maniacal youkai, she found out that she was going to be sharing living space with a man who was a few points shy from the god category (I imagine being a demon made him a few points shy), and _now_ her deviously handsome/beautiful, however you wanted to look at it, flatmate had a _little_ bit of a attitude towards humans.

This was _definitely_ something to put up on her site as soon as possible, but most likely in the comfort of her own room, she wouldn't want to be typing up something about Sesshoumaru with him peeping over her shoulder now would she? But the question was, which room was hers? Now that she had met her flatmate, she was pretty sure that he wouldn't want her to bother him so that she could find out where her bedroom was, and it wasn't that she was afraid of Sesshoumaru, despite all the creepy stories she was told back there about the legendary demonic rage.

Yup, despite all those stories she was told about people being ripped to horribly disfigured and unrecognisable shreds by angry demons, she actually had a feeling that the apparently stoic Sesshoumaru didn't mind her presence after all. Almost as if he had been waiting for her, but she laughed that thought away and got back to the task at hand. Getting to her room.

The two bedrooms were side by side and there was a bathroom perpendicular to the last bedroom. Her stuff was in one of them, but she couldn't tell which because both doors were shut, much to her displeasure. All she had to do was pick and hope that she picked right. And besides, why would Sesshoumaru get mad if she accidentally invaded his privacy instead of knocking politely on the door to see if he was inside or asking him which one was her room? It isn't like she would do it intentionally.

Almost instinctively, she headed to the room closest to the bathroom, and was about to open the door when she stopped. Whenever she watched the movies, or TV, it was always the same story. Whenever someone was unsure of which door to pick, they randomly picked one and _always_ picked the wrong one.

Sure it always had a hilarious result, but not when it actually could pose a problem, because now, on the other side of one of these doors was a man, and not just any man, a half-naked-sculpted-in-heaven-and-dropped-to-earth _demon_, who would no doubt be peeved that she dared enter his room.

So, she decided that she wasn't going to be a sucker like all the other people on TV and released the door handle, turning to the other bedroom door and opened it.

Sesshoumaru looked up from putting on his boxers when he heard the door creak open. 'Didn't I shut the door?' he thought furrowing his brow slightly, he watched as it was pushed open further to reveal, to his mortification, Rin's small form in the doorway. He froze when he realised the predicament that he was in, but Rin hadn't noticed that he was there yet; she was too busy looking around the room.

The room was magnificent. It had a lovely décor of gold that made her feel like she was in a palace, but she was going to look around the room later, for now, she just wanted to open the window and sit on the big bed that had a man next to it. Wait a minute. A man was next to her bed?

Her eyes swiftly sped back to the spot where she saw the man. On the bed, a towel lay forgotten and a blow dryer was on the floor. The man in question had silver hair; his golden amber eyes widened ever so slightly due to shock and a barely visible pink blush stained his cheeks. He was dressing, correction; he was putting on his boxers, giving Rin a clear view of....

"Oh...my..." she murmured as her eyes grew wide from shock and the realisation that she had just walked right into the exact predicament that she had been trying to avoid in the first place. Her face flushed and she silently willed her legs to move, but only her hand moved to cover her mouth. She was frozen to the spot staring at him, much to his embarrassment. What was her problem? Every man had one, and she'd have to see one sooner or later, but unfortunately for him, it had to be sooner.

He made a move to stand upright, and upon seeing this, she shut the door quickly and he heard her footsteps fade away immediately followed by the slam of her bedroom door and a muffled bawl of "OH MY GOD!". Obviously, she had accidentally offended her virgin eyes, by giving them a heaping eyeful of Sesshoumaru in all his unclothed glory, and had caught him completely off guard, a very rare occurrence in itself, and even though he hated not being in control of the situation, this one time was especially unnerving for him. She had seen naked for God's sake, and the only other woman, no, the only other _person_ that had seen him nude was his mother....

...and that was when he was a pup.....

Well, obviously Sesshoumaru was not pleased with this latest development, but hopefully they would be able to avoid any more...problems like that in the future. All he had to do was teach the wench her place, and then go and buy some huge-ass padlocks for his door, for a bishounen such as himself could never be too careful...

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The moonlight bathed one particular figure that sat in a windowsill, the wind playing with their long midnight black hair. Looking up at the moon, she seemed to have an ethereal glow to her person, her stormy grey gaze now appearing a more misty, lighter shade of grey as an endless number of emotions flickered through them.

"As I feel my life draw to a close, I am forced to wonder if I made the right decisions in my brief lifetime. What do you think Kagura? Do you think that I have made the right choices?" she asked the dark form lurking in the corner.

The person stepped forward, revealing the young woman who had run into Rin at the university, a fan held to her face. She slowly made her way to Kikyo's side and joined her in the window for a brief second before she drew a feather out of her hair, and threw it into the night sky, where it grew immensely in size.

"I can't tell you if you've made the right choices because I wasn't there when you made them all, all I can tell you is that you have to make these last ones count, because no one knows how long you've got 'til you run out of time."

She jumped out of the window and out onto the enlarged white feather, looking back at Kikyo with unreadable crimson coloured eyes. For a brief moment, Kikyo took her grief stricken grey eyes from the moon and looked at Kagura sitting in the feather when she realised that there was room for another.

"Are you going for someone?"

"No. I was just wondering if you wanted to come."

"No thank..." she started before a piercing pain cut her off in her heart that made her fall from her perch in the window and onto Kagura's white feather. Kagura looked down at her worriedly as she writhed in pain, clutching the area around her heart as if trying to rip it out. Her shrieks of agony filled the air, and the bedroom door burst open.

"I heard screaming. What's the matter?" Onigumo asked, his crimson eyes filled with curiosity.

"It's Kikyo again, she fell out the window." Kagura explained as she handed the now unconscious girl to Onigumo, who placed her on her bed, wiping the sweat from her face and pushing the bangs out of her eyes. She was now sleeping peacefully, but she held a pained expression on her face as she muttered things to herself. But the last thing was clearly heard by all present in the room.

"Inu...Yasha..."

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Kagome lay awake in her bed, thinking back on the days she used to enjoy with her father and her mother, before the cancer came. Those were the days, when day and night had seemingly melted into each other, making the days pass by in a blur of light. She never really knew why she would always think back to those days when night came around.

Maybe it was because it was similar to the darkness that surrounded her heart after her sun had gone down, after he went six feet under, his soul catching what was known as the Afterlife Express in the Higurashi family. Just thinking these thoughts made tears come to her eyes.

Even though she knew that this day would come, and she knew not to get her hopes up too high because then it would make her heart break more than it needed to be broken, it still hurt her, just to watch him wither away to nothing while he lie in a musty old hospital bed, even after she prayed for him at every shrine and temple to any and every god imaginable that she could find, he still passed away.

Sango rolled over next to her, mumbling something about flying cookie jars and ninja monkeys (!), but Kagome could not bother herself to listen. Under normal circumstances, she would burst out laughing at the taijiya who talked in her sleep, but now, it was as if she had been far removed from the world she once knew and once loved, and placed in some foreign body that she barely recognised to be her own.

She had to commend herself on how well she had hidden her grief from her friends, even though she knew it wasn't healthy to do so, but still, the fact that she hid it so well made her think that maybe she could hide it forever. Then it would go away. Or so she thought as she sighed into her pillow, hoping not to awake the girl sleeping next to her as she slowly cried herself to sleep, unaware of another person she knew who was doing the same.

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Rin sat on her bed looking at the screen of her laptop blankly (A/n: much like I'm doing now...), wondering what to type about her new living situation. The screen of her website glowed happily as all computers do while she waited for the picture that she had drawn of Sesshoumaru, being the talented anime artist that she was, so that could she put it up on her site, along with a little bio, as did everyone else that she knew or came into contact with over a long period of time.

The picture had finished scanning, and she quickly began to edit in her photoshop programme while nibbling on the corner of her lip. The door creaked open, but she didn't bother to look up because she somehow knew that Sesshoumaru wouldn't bother himself to come into her room, and even if he did, he would knock so as to avoid any... embarrassing situations like the one that had just taken place.

Her face flushed a deep red colour at the recollection, especially when she accidentally walked into Sesshoumaru a little while afterwards, and the inu youkai was none to pleased to see her after the 'Incident', but he took the liberty to tell her...no threaten her to never tell anyone about what had happened.

She laughed lightly as she remembered what he had said, especially when he said that he could cause her a lot more discomfort than that caused by brief nudity. The door creaked open some more and tremors ran down Rin's spine, giving her the impression that someone was watching her and when she turned around, she saw a pair of large yellow eyes watching her from the tree.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The loud scream flowed through the slightly ajar door, through the keyhole and into Sesshoumaru's sensitive ears. His brow twitched slightly at the noise and tried to ignore it, but it sounded so innocent and genuinely scared, but he convinced himself that he was only going to see what was the matter so that she would shut up. Not so that he could appear as her knight in shining armour and have her fall madly in love with him. Definitely not that.

He slowly rose from his seat on his bed with a thoroughly disgruntled look on his face ( well, as much emotion he could show without cracking his mask, just imagine him with his eyes narrowed dangerously) and proceeded to Rin's room in a leisurely fashion. No sense in stressing himself out over some ningen (!) wench right?

Pushing open the door, he got the full blast of Rin's scream, making him wince ever so slightly. She turned around to finally acknowledge his presence, her eyes wide with fear, but just seeing him standing there made her shut up, thank the gods.

She quickly rushed to his side and then hid behind him, peeking around him ever so often. Sesshoumaru looked around for the source of her distress, when a familiar scent caught his nose. How dare that imp trespass on his "lands"/apartment/dorm?

Narrowing his eyes some more, he tried to locate exactly where the imp was, when he saw the familiar tunic sticking out in the trees green leaves. This was obviously an insult to his demonic senses and heritage, if the imp thought that he could hide from Sesshoumaru that easily and not get noticed.

Walking away, he heard the leaves rustle and a sigh of relief escape the imp's mouth as Rin looked completely confused and whimpered slightly at the fact that the 'thing' was still there. She obviously didn't want to go near it, not that he blamed her, Jakken _was_ quite an eyesore, he thought to himself as she continued to convulse in fear.

Reclaiming his spot in Rin's doorway, he threw a rock into the air and caught it back, repeating the process and he heard a hard swallow come from the tree. Taking aim, he gracefully flung the rock into the tree, making Jakken jump out of his hiding spot and wave his hands frantically in the air and Rin squeak in fear at the sight at the imp.

"Beautiful master Sesshou..."

Ignoring the imp, Sesshoumaru flung yet another rock that hit Jakken in his overly large yellow eye, making him squawk, but yet still he continued to irritate Sesshoumaru with his incessant pleading while he held his right eye. A growl resonated from the back of Sesshoumaru's throat as he flung the last rock into the air and caught it back, his eyes never leaving Jakken's small impish form. Rin watched Sesshoumaru with great interest, before turning her attention to Jakken and then back to Sesshoumaru.

"Please acce..."

With a grace that only Sesshoumaru could achieve, the last rock ( which might I add was slightly bigger than the others) was forcefully flung at Jakken, finally knocking him off the tree. Rin watched on in interest as Sesshoumaru walked up to her window, closed it, pulled the curtains close and strolled back to her side.

He held her jaw in his palm and looked down at her with his usual look of elegant disinterest making her feel very vulnerable. How often is it that an inu youkai held your jaw/head in his hand? And what if he was still peeved about the 'Incident'?

"This Sesshoumaru suggests that you keep your window closed so that Jakken does not come back."

And with that, he went back to his room and shut the door, leaving Rin all by herself with a whole mess of things to post on her site.

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Kagome awoke to find that she was hopelessly entangled in a mass of limbs, which she soon found out to be Sango, the taijiya that could double for a ninja in her sleep. The dead weight prevented Kagome from moving too far, if not from moving at all, and no matter what she did, Sango still refused to wake up. Oh, if only she had a hose, or maybe even a fire...

"Hey Sango, the house nearly burned down and now there's some cute firemen out front."

"Nice try Kag..." the older girl muttered sleepily, before rolling onto her back.

"Sango? Are you awake?"

Kagome was answered by a loud snore that she could have _sworn_ shook the foundation of the house. But she was still trapped under the human bag of bricks formerly known as Yoshida Sango. 'Maybe if I yell for help now, they may might still be able to save me using the Jaws of Life...' Kagome thought darkly as Sango delivered a blow to her ribs.

Suddenly the weights were lifted off of Kagome's aching body, much to her delight. Hopping off the bed, she landed on the ground with a soft 'thud' and a grunt came from the other side of the bed. Sango.

"Thanks for saving my life, Sango."

"Saving your life?" she muttered, her eyes still glued shut due to the fatigue. She loved Kagome's bed, it was so soft and warm, or maybe that was just Kagome, but either way, she liked it, so she decided to get better acquainted with it when she finally realised what Kagome was saying.

"Saving your life?! From what?"

"Yourself. You sleep like a ninja under attack." Kagome said matter-o-factly before exiting the room, massaging her aching ribs while Sango managed a sleepy glare, before she all but collapsed back into Kagome's bed and into another deep sleep.

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Kikyo sat up in her bed, the wind blowing gently, playing with her long midnight black locks and pulling her clothes this way and that. For some reason, she was upset, but she didn't know why and her heart was aching with a dull pain that she could not ignore, both physical and emotional.

Her end was coming soon, but for some reason, this did not seem to bother as much as it did before. Nothing seemed to be important as it was before. Nothing. She seemed to have been emptied of all emotion, leaving behind a useless shell. Getting out of her bed, Kikyo swept some of her bangs out of her eyes and silently padded down the stairs and to the breakfast table. No one was there except a girl in all white, with skin as pale as the whitest piece of paper and eyes as black as night.

The girl turned, and looked at her with her black soulless eyes, and for once Kikyo understood the unusually silent girl, who just sat with the same unbroken expression, watching, as the world passed her by. Cold grey met with pitch black for a moment, and then the girl left, no doubt as silently as when she had entered. Kikyo watched her kindred spirit go; now appreciating what it felt like to watch the world go by from the side of the road, too distant to be able to care about things that had at one point in time actually mattered.

Something disturbed her ever so slightly. Something at the back of her mind, wishing desperately to be remembered, but could not be for the love of the gods. And then came a faint youki, which struck her as familiar, but her disoriented senses and memory prevented her from recognising it fully. Then the doorbell rung, and seeing that no one else appeared to be around to answer it, Kikyo made her way to the door on silent feet. And when she opened the door, it all came rushing back.

_Kikyo walked through a field, her midnight locks pulled into one at the nape of her neck, like a miko from the Sengoku Jidai would do. Looking down at herself, she observed that she was wearing the traditional miko garb, and in her hand, she felt a smooth, round orb. She stopped to take a look at the large pink pearl in her hand, and absently ran her thumb over it. It happily reflected the sunlight, as the wind blew, tugging at the necklace attached to it._

She looked at the person on the other side of the door with her now lifeless grey eyes, which used to shine like precious stones when she saw him, but now nothing. She felt empty inside, and she wondered if those were always her true feelings towards him.

_She continued walking; heading towards a destination that only her feet seemed to know. It seemed so lonely and dreary in that field, and Kikyo continued to trudge along when she heard something. Through the drying grass came the noise of someone's hurry. Out of curiosity, she turned around, the pink orb clenched tightly in her hand._

Golden amber eyes shone brightly as none other than Nemura Inuyasha stood at her doorstep. He seemed unusually calm for a person with his rambunctious nature, a dog in his own right. Playful and loud, just like his animal blood suggested, her love was tainted with a curse that he could not begin to comprehend, a curse so foul it made her want to vomit. The curse of mixed blood.

_Her stone cold grey eyes caught sight of a red and white blur coming towards her. Her slender eyebrows came together in her confusion and inability to decipher exactly what it was, until she saw the flash of the golden amber eyes and the silvery hair reflecting the sunlight, but by then it were too late._

The wind blew between the two as Inuyasha waited expectantly, staring Kikyo straight in the eye, not paying any particular attention to her state of undress (i.e. pajamas...). There was something different about Kikyo, how her cold grey eyes seemed to be more than just a colour, but a mood. Something about her didn't seem right. Her aura seemed a little off and her physical appearance disturbed him somewhat. On her face, was a look of unspoken wisdom, which she seemed to have gained overnight, for in its place the day before was the guise of a carefree schoolgirl.

_By the time she had realized it was her love, she was already lying in a pool of her own blood, her shoulder aching with a pain she could have never even imagine, save the pain of her heart breaking into a million pieces because of the person she once loved._

She had been there, just staring at him for the last five minutes with a stare so empty it made him shiver. It was then that he realized that something was wrong with her. He felt an unusual load in his pocket and a surge of energy that seemed to belong to Kikyo, but that in itself was impossible, because never could a person remove their aura, replacing it with that of clay and ash.

"Kik..."

"Inuyasha, do you love me?"

_Kikyo could feel the dirt blowing into her open wound, and before her was a pair of uncovered feet. Looking up into the face of her beloved, Kikyo watched his lips move, forming words yet still maintaining an unfamiliar smirk. He snatched the pink orb from her hand and looked down on her pitiful form before widening his smirk and running off, leaving the dying Kikyo to mourn the loss of many things. Her soul. Her life. Her love._

Inuyasha was stunned by this sudden question and his brows furrowed out of his confusion. He thought that she was maybe still mad about Saturday when that moron Sato (!) Miroku dragged him down to the train station, for a day of 'fun'. He had called to explain to her, but she was already asleep.

Her empty stare began to firmly grasp a recognizable emotion. It was anger. Unspoken wrath, which began to strangle him as he looked at her emotionless face; hidden miko energy that was tempted to purify him on the spot. She knew he had lied to her the first time.

"Tell me Inuyasha. If I were to die, and go to hell. Would you come with me?"

Her voice seemed so cold, it frightened him, and her question seemed to be of a morbid nature. But she seemed nonetheless satisfied that she had cornered him, because she knew Inuyasha, like she knew her stolen soul and she knew that he would never join her in her eternal torment and pain.

"I would Kikyo, I would follow you to the very depths of hell."

His response was soft, but yet still, she could hear the seriousness in it and part of her was overjoyed at this, but the other part began to bubble over with rage and hatred. Even though this time she knew he was telling the truth, her dream haunted her, making her feel that it was not in fact beyond him to do such a horrific thing. She could tell that part of his animal blood longed to annihilate her, for she, as a human gifted with divine powers, was a latent threat to him, whose ancestors were conceived in the very pits of the abyssal darkness, which she now feared.

Once again, the wind blew between them, dragging a few petals off the red rose and into the freed air. Time was running out on Kikyo and Inuyasha. On Kikyo. Her heart was now aching with that same dull pain, and she knew that it was her dream's entire fault. Even though she knew it meant nothing, the slight possibly that it could have haunted her. She hated being a miko for she hated the fact that all of her dreams could have a meaning. She hated the fact that she could not enjoy her life. She hated the fact that she could not be normal but most importantly, she hated the fact that she hated what she loved the most. Inuyasha.

Time was slipping away from Kikyo. The door slipped from her hand and she watched it close on her love. She wouldn't need him where she was going, so it was best to let go now, before it gradually became harder.

Inuyasha watched as she let go of the door, letting it slam in his face. Kikyo was no longer his. She had just slipped through the cracks in his fingers, trapped somewhere where he could not save her. Taking one long mournful glance at the door, he turned and went to his car, never to return to the place, where his heart was broken by the mournful sobs on the other side of the door.

Kikyo slid down onto the floor and began to weep as she heard Inuyasha drive off with a speed sure to give adrenaline an adrenaline rush. He was gone now, and she had driven him away, all because of her foolish dream. Her dream reality had now become her existence for she could no longer feel what had kept her whole. And as her dream indicated, Inuyasha had taken it with him. In his pocket, he kept her soul. The pink orb filled with mixed emotions and power. And as she slid away into an oncoming wave of unconsciousness, she remembered the last part of her dream.

_As Kikyo laid there dying, she vowed to herself that Inuyasha would pay for her pain. She rose unsteadily to her feet and sought him out. She would have her revenge before she died and she would make sure of it. Her vision was beginning to blur but she focused all of her strength on following his youki, and she soon found him. Taking her bow and arrow for the last time, she shot at him, catching his attention. He turned around, confusion apparent on his as her arrow struck true, piercing his heart and pinning him to a tree._

_Approaching him, she took back the orb before she passed out from the loss of blood. When she finally dragged herself out of the sea of darkness, she was on a pyre, the flames licking her body and the orb reflected each flame of hatred inside and outside of her body. It was painful, both physically and emotionally, having been betrayed and betraying herself. She refused to move, but even if she wanted to, her body was too heavy._

_Kikyo closed her eyes for the last time. The last time before she entered; into oblivion._

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(!) The ninja monkeys are mine, copyrighted to me, by me, for me, and me alone. Just like Spacewolf has her bowl of scotch, I have my ninja monkeys.

A ningen is a human being for any of those among us that didn't know and

Miroku's name was supposed to be Sato in the first place, but I forgot, and gave him the last name he had in the original, which I had already given to Naraku, Kagura and Kikyo.

Hikaru m.: Wow, I so screwed up on this chappie it isn't even funny. And now time for another lovely fun fact.

**CAFAD fact #2: Inuyasha was never supposed to be rich.** It's true. Inuyasha was supposed to be an average high school student like everyone else, so as to add a sense of true originality to the story, but unfortunately, my fingers did not live up to my mind's expectations, thus creating the Inuyasha that exists in this story. Although in the horribly messed up original, he was in fact rich, and Kouga was not, but in this version, Kouga was _supposed_ to be the only rich guy in the group, thus explaining why one Inori Kitai lives with him. But once again, I screwed up my own story and am too damn lazy to rewrite it to the way it was going to be originally, plus people actually seem to like this version, so I'll stick with it.

Thanks to all those who have reviewed thus far, forgive me, for I can only remember bluesakura, but I can't remember the rest. Also, thanks to the person who reviewed my poem, mysticmoon I believe it was. Thanks a lot people, you brighten up my days. School's being a bitch, that's why I'm taking so long, sorry for the late update and plus with the addition of my friend Jan-chan as editor, the chapters might take a while to come out, so please be patient.

Summary: Things start getting interesting in the school. Inuyasha has discovered a jewel but has no idea where it came from, while Kikyo and Kagome have it out over the latter's father. Relationships are constantly being made and broken, as we all know, but Kikyo and Kitai have something in common; they'd be better off it they just let go. But they're finding it difficult to do so...Chapter 6 : Clay vs. Ash


	6. Clay vs Ash

Hikaru M.: It' been awhile since I've looked at this…decided that I would finally continue the sixth chapter (I've been in quite the Harry Potter frame of mind since Deathly Hallows was released). Well last chapter, we saw the introduction of the shiko-no-tama, which will not play a major part in the story, but is still there, leading me to another fun fact.

**Fun fact #3: Kikyo was actually supposed to be a sweet, kind-hearted soul, who was hated by none and envied by all. **But as you can see, Kikyo is slowly making her way to how she was in the series, but since I only watched like 3 episodes she was in, how she acts is really a mystery to me, so any inconsistencies in her behaviour is attributed to this. Also, I just found my way out of a hole I had put myself in by wanting to include things from certain episodes regarding Kikyo's behaviour, and that's what this chapter is for…to explain it all. By the way, she would have been dead by the next chapter, had I not decided to spice things up and prolong everyone's suffering.

Disclaimer: I don't own jack, anything I do own, was not bought with my own money. Now that that's established, onto the chapter.

Chasing A Far Away Dream

Chapter 6: Clay vs. Ash

Monday morning found Nakamura Kaede on a phone, having a conversation with yet another concerned parent. And for this, she had the principal to blame.

After a few years of discontinuation, he started back the single most horrifying tradition that the school ever had. A name so simple, but so diabolical, it made even the most devious of persons shiver just at the thought, and the innocent fall unconscious. It was called 'The Test'.

A most Machiavellian experience that made even the bravest of hearts cower in fear at the sheer thought of the exercise, but yet still, it was a routine in which all of the students were to take part in as an assessment of their skill; whether they were worthy of attending the prestigious school of both the gifted and tormented souls.

Some of the students which took part in this 'Test' came out half alive, their abilities drained and senses dulled to nothing, their minds, nothing but rotting brain cells and blood. Few became vegetables, or went crazy, never to return to the world of the sane or the living ever again. They were not worthy of attending an institution of such good reputation.

Others barely made it out alive, their eyes shining with both unearthly excitement and otherworldly fear, their skills were yet to be found and further developed and then there were the others. The few who could pass with flying colours because of exceptional team work and beautifully executed techniques. This test of power, skill, teamwork and mastery of skill neither excited nor frightened them, for they were the chosen few. Worthy of their holy or demonic power and heritage. They were the ones who made the school what it was, what it is, and what it forever shall be.

"Yes and I assure you that everything in our power will be done to make sure that he gets out of the hospital, a healthy young man. Just as he always was. He will be in our prayers."

With a sigh, she put back down the receiver, and stared at the phone for a moment. That was Tatsumi Zentaro's mother, hoping and praying that her son would be alright after a baby shinkei demon (nervous –pertaining to nerves) crawled into his ear during the exercise; and baby shinkei demons were infamous for devouring their host's nervous system and brain cells. It was highly unlikely that he would ever be able to move again.

Kaede sighed. Her holy powers were being drained by all of this continuous praying for injured students, and praying that she need not pray for any more. But most of her prayers seemed to fall on deaf ears, for most of her desires, though few in number, never came true.

At any rate, there was only one group left to go, and from what she had seen, they were the 'chosen few' in the school, and though they left much to be desired in the area of teamwork, their raw talent, skill and ability put them leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the school. But unfortunately, because of their highly developed abilities, their test would be much harder than the tests of those that went before them and failed.

'Ni miko, ichi houshi, ichi youkai, ichi taijiya to ni hanyou.' she thought, with the faintest trace of a smile on her old, thin lips. For a moment, the sun seemed so much brighter as the old miko hobbled towards a window when a breath of unusually fresh air hit her square in her face.

'Ni miko, ichi houshi, ichi youkai, ichi taijiya to ni hanyou onaji rei mondai.'(!)

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Sango waited expectantly with her backpack slung over her shoulder and Kirara at her side. Today was her first day at the prestigious Natsuki Watanabe High School, but she was neither nervous nor excited about it. It was interesting how they accepted her just like that into a renowned institute where she expected the competition to be fierce for a place in their school; all she remembered them saying was that they suddenly got some slots available.

This sudden recollection caught her interest as she recognised that it was nowhere near graduation of those in the 12th grade, and no one in their right mind would just up and leave a school that could help to make all their wildest dreams to come true. They could have had a legitimate reason, like they had to move away, or they got kicked out because they weren't good enough, an endless supply of reasons, but yet still, she couldn't help but feel that something was wrong with the school, or even the students. Maybe they had to do something called 'The Examination'.

She laughed at the idea of a group of students, put in a room on show to the principal and the staff, as they fought against all manner of youkai and oni, just to stay alive. 'Like they would do that at a place as famous as that.' she thought but of course, Sango had no idea of how wrong she was.

"Sango dear, we'll be leaving in a few minutes."

"Okay Higurashi-san."

She shifted her backpack somewhat and looked across at the clock on the wall. In about 25 minutes, she would be walking down the hallways of time, into the classroom of another destiny.

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Kanna watched the silently enraged miko with her empty onyx eyes. She was so much easier to see and watch now that she had become under Kanna's control; her jurisdiction; her speciality. The void.

What else could she be? What else is a person who lost their soul, their passion, their love? There was nothing else Kikyo could possibly be now; she was too far gone to be fixed. A girl, like a nation that was broken and divided against itself, that was Kikyo. Her vital components were now fighting against each other, trying to gain control of a sinking vessel, doomed to fall and never rise again. Urasue never made a bigger mistake.

Clay, and ash; all that was holding up the fallacy that was the life force, arbitrarily called Kikyo. All her fellows return to the earth, put where should _she_ go? Following her fellows was what her clay half chose to do, but her half made of ash wished to return to the pyre, where it truly belonged; choosing not to disillusion itself any longer.

That was where the conflict arose, set in its ways against subject to change; clay versus ash. Kikyo was now two completely different entities bound together in one body, by glue that was no longer there. So cursed was she amongst all other vessels void of all hope, emotion, love and soul, because she was doomed to be this way until she finally returned to her powdered elements, and even in death she shall be different from the same people that she laughed, loved, hated, liked, prayed, cried and smiled with.

And all of this, Kanna could see with her own empty eyes. Through the layers of ash and crumbling clay there was a large void, filled only by stale air and hatred. Kikyo turned suddenly on the small albino child, but with such slowness of motion, it was hard to tell whether she was well or not.

"Kanna, shouldn't you be somewhere tending to Naraku?"

The young girl watched Kikyo with mild, understated interest, knowing full well that Kikyo was looking at her own reflection in the depths of oblivion, the portholes through which she, and ultimately Naraku, could see all of the world's emptiness with the blink of an eye. Her mirror was of no real importance to her, just a worthless piece of glass through which she vaguely expressed her freedom. Something she had long since forgotten the feeling of, like so many things before it and yet still to come.

Of course Kikyo would not have that same problem, for the Mistress of the Void was prisoner to the man who ordered Kikyo's creation. Shigeta Onigumo, more commonly known as Naraku. But he need not know that; he need not know many things. She may not be as foolish as Kagura to be so daring, but that does not that mean that she doesn't rebel in her own silent way. For if the Void were allowed a voice, it would be the loudest of all. But a loud voice was not now needed, her silent one would do.

Calling upon the power to speak which had long since become a dormant power within the Void, she parted her thin, paper white lips and spoke words in a voice so soft and gentle, but yet still potent, it was if Naraku himself had said them.

"Why search the Void for something you know full well isn't there?"

And with that, the child left a dismayed Kikyo to drown in her misery on silent feet.

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Inuyasha twirled the pink orb in his cage of claws once again; watching with particular interest as the many shades of pink swirled continuously, trying to become one flat shade of pink. It was as though Kikyo was dancing between his fingers every time he twirled the wonderful ball of mystery between the rough procurers of his destiny.

It had a strange surge of power; not only did it seem to belong to Kikyo, but some other unnamed entities who seemed to captivate Inuyasha's entire attention. Each entity seemed to be an advocate for a different belief, and unconsciously, Inuyasha named them, keeping track of their every movement of energy, provoking Kikyo every step of the way.

It was interesting how each entity seemed to be an advocate for a quality that he had seen in Kikyo at one point in time or another, some more often than others, and some more defined when compared to their counterparts. The thought of Kikyo sent shivers down his spine. When he remembered the dull look in her eyes, the pink orb stopped spinning and he put it back in his pocket.

He was chilled by the silent loathing that laced the air and the purification that threatened to sever the only cord of connection that he ever had to his father and stoic half brother. His black blood. Many a human would look at him in disgust and say that he made a filthy blood line filthier by mixing the sparse drops of good clean human blood to it, he knew many people thought like that, demons and humans alike, and apparently Kikyo thought so too. And it hurt. The purification that tinged the air haunted him and the grey soulless eyes made him shudder at the mere recollection.

He wasn't quite sure what happened but he was pretty sure it was some kind of feral response that made him leave, silent and submissive like a defeated dog. It was Kikyo's silent bidding that he leave and leave he did in a strange way that did not befit his persona or his blood. Fight or flight, a natural response which even high level demons like his father could not fight, but he intended to fight it. He intended to fight millions of eras of pure animal instinct, ancient knowledge which flowed through his veins, rampaging like a black flood, because never had he felt so strongly about a girl before, and he was not going to let her slip through the cracks in his fingers.

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Kagome guided Sango through the hallways thronging with people until she came to Kaede's office door. She knocked on the door with much uncertainty, and was relieved when the old miko opened up the door and let them in. Kaede walked back to her chair behind her desk and sat down facing the two girls, her remaining eye trained on the girl with the teasing hint of both a diluted demonic and angelic aura, undoubtedly a demon slayer.

Her burgundy eyes seemed to portray the uneasiness she felt inside her as she looked around the old miko's office, admiring all the weapons that hung on the walls, gleaming proudly through their glass cases. She turned to look at Kagome, who was also admiring the beautifully crafted katanas and ceremonial fans decorated with charms and spells in beautiful calligraphy, charging the air with many auras of purity and unseen might, silently guiding them to glory and insurmountable power. Sango could see it, the natural need within Kagome to become great like her forefathers in holiness before her and be a hero to the coming generations shining in the deities' glory.

Kaede watched Sango out of the corner of her eye as she looked through the papers on her desk to find that now all important locker assignment. The young taijiya gave off an air that reeked of suspicion and excitement despite the difficulties which would soon be encountered; even those of which she had no clue. Even to that end, her aura showed off what her seemingly meek manner did not: true pride in heritage, unrivalled and also inhuman strength and also more dark blood in her veins than was normal for the average demon slayer.

Albeit, it was not necessarily a bad thing as she was soon to have a locker next to none other than Sato Miroku, the only boy in the entire school who believed himself to be strong, handsome and man enough to flirt with every last girl in the school; whether she be carrying the curse of a spirit, torrents of darkness in her veins or the kiss of an angel on her head mattered not to him. This potential demoness taijiya would be enough to put him in his place she hoped as she handed the taijiya the locker assignment and watched her leave with Kagome at her side, interrogating her about the locker space designation, to which she could give no real answer.

They walked out the door, forgetting the old miko in their frenzy to get to class when the bell rang, but she did not mind this as she rose from her chair and began on her way to close the door when she felt it. A decaying presence within the novice range made her sick and as she felt it making its approach, she almost fell unconscious because of the overwhelming stench of death it carried (!). Kaede could feel it now in the pit of her stomach, like worms wriggling in the dirt; her worry was beginning to take shape as she felt foreign energies stirring under her eye patch.

Now her miko energies had completely lost control and her body was engulfed in a dark purple glow. This seemingly undead life force was draining her of her own old and feeble life force, and also giving life to miko energy she believed to be dead. Her left eye socket was now alive with miko energy lying dormant within, now rekindled by the mysterious walking corpse. The electric blue miko was now all she could see as pain began to override all her senses and blood seeped from underneath her eye patch as she finally fell unconscious to the floor.

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The hallways were completely empty of people when footfalls began to echo. Kikyo calmly strolled to class, thoroughly enjoying the silence and solitude, no matter how short it would; she preferred to suffer in silence. Her miko energy was waning so much so that it was beginning to take away from her physical energy, leaving her weak.

She pushed herself up the wall for support as she struggled onto class, her pale skin alive with fever. Her black bangs clung to her face and her breathing was heavy as she continued to struggle down the hallways, hoping that she had enough strength to not pass out in such a dishevelled state. She was near Kaede's office now, she could feel the old hag's feeble miko energies and she reached out to the open door hoping that she could be helped when she heard a faint noise that seemed to be a scream. Her body seemed to be drawn to its own energy, undoubtedly still surviving in Kaede's eye socket after the accident so many months ago.

She was sure that the old woman would not survive the blow, but it seemed that she was more of a warrior than she thought she was, or maybe Kikyou's strength was slowly slipping away from her even then. As much as she would have liked to contemplate those two options, Kikyou knew that she needed to find solitude to rest somewhere.

Taking a peak into the open door, Kikyou saw the old woman passed out with blood seeping out from underneath her eye patch, but she could not help the sudden morbid fascination that overcame her and she slowly entered the room and hovered over the unconscious form of her old miko sensei. Almost immediately, the old bite associated with her miko energy greeted her, rising from its physical prison and caressing her face, making her body shudder at an immediate need for the gain of such power.

At once, Kikyou could feel a revitalising tidal wave surge through her entire body as it re-entered her system, giving new life to her still slightly clammy flesh. She breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she could feel her strength return and was about to get up when her eyes rested upon the still uneasy face of Kaede below her own. For some reason, Kikyou felt uneasy too and the peace she once had because of her renewed strength had now left her, a squirming at the pit of her stomach replacing it.

She could not understand. Had she not regained her strength so why now was she once again feeling the sick draining throughout her entire body? There was no malignant presence in the room, but yet still her body was weakening to the point that opening her eyes was too much for her. Managing to shift her position slightly so that she did not fall on Kaede, Kikyou collapsed on the cold tile of the former's office, not noticing the hostile electric blue energies that surrounded her as she slipped into the oblivion that was the comfort of unconsciousness.

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A tiny spike of miko energy sent a chill up the spine of a particular inu hanyou. One who also happened to notice that her favourite tormentor was not in class that morning. Kitai had had a fairly uneventful day so far, having been lucky enough to not bump into Kikyou to endure more of her teasing or her harsh words which brought her to tears. Often times it seemed as though they only crossed paths when Kikyou needed to vent, although Kitai noticed that Kikyou seemed to walk the school halls in a daze, not even noticing her once. And despite the teasing and humiliation she suffered at Kikyou's hands, she could not help but feel worried about Kikyou's health, physical or otherwise.

She had passed Kikyou at least three times that very morning, even speaking to her once, but she had either ignored her or simply was not walking in sync with her body, her soul lost in some spiritual labyrinth where none could see or touch her. Where none could heal or save her. Kikyou was forever lost inside herself.

A small crumpled piece of paper hit and fell from her desk, but she didn't seem to notice as she was too busy staring out the window watching the beautiful, near cloudless sky sprinkle rain through the open window which ever so slowly began to turn into a freak shower, muting any sound that was not its own. The water felt cold against her seemingly heated flesh, and she just sat still allowing the water to drench her entire body watching the dark storm clouds through near closed eyes, her eyelashes filtering out excess water and her hands clasped in front of her.

Soon all the windows were closed except for her own, the water only coming down harder and harder leaving minute red marks on her pallid skin. All attempts to catch her attention were futile as she continued to stare out of the open window, her table now an island onto itself as the puddle around it continued to grow. Lost in her own world, she heard nothing, and sat, bewitched by the small flock of eel like creatures that floated through the sky leisurely, each carrying his own small spiritual flame.

The rain suddenly brought her pain like no other, but still she could not move from her seat until the eel like creatures had passed, after which she promptly passed out. The class had almost at once broken out into chaos when the hanyou girl began to spasm in reaction to the continuous flood of water. Kagome quickly shut the window and knelt down to see if she could help her unconscious friend, but as soon as she touched her face, the spasms stopped and Kitai lay motionless on the wet floor, mumbling incoherent things, the most audible of which even for youkai ears being something about miko showers.

Inside her mind however, Kitai still sat at her desk looking out the window as the shower began to lessen into the small shower it had started out as. And in her mind, Kitai still saw the flock of eel like creatures floating away unnoticed with their spirit flames in tow. All except one that stayed behind to look her in the eye, speaking to her in a language she would not have understood otherwise, but just for the day, she would speak the tongue of the spirit serpent, also known as a Soul Collector, before it floated away with its spirit flame, no, its collected soul to some unknown destination.

And before she slowly returned to the realm of the living and fully conscious, she wondered what had happened and why she was the only one to notice the small gathering of soul collectors, why the showers had started so suddenly and where the soul collectors could possibly be going to on the school compound…

And then for some reason, Kikyou suddenly crossed her mind…

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When Kikyou awoke, she was not on the floor in Kaede's office, but instead, she was lying on the cold tile of the girl's bathroom, a vague numbness plaguing her body. Confused as she was, Kikyou was relieved as she sat up and looked around the seemingly empty bathroom before her vigilant eyes spotted that seemed to be a floating eel. The creature in question watched her with its large eyes, its blue scales reflecting the light given off by the half dead lighting fixtures.

The ensuing silence was thick as many questions began to swim through Kikyou's head, many of which she assumed could be answered by the seemingly simple creature before her. It clicked together its finger like appendages in what Kikyou assumed to be a form of righteous irritation and before she could stop herself, she stood up and looked it in the eye, half wanting to run, half expecting an explanation for the strange occurrences that had thus far taken place.

Her eyes watched its every movement, the minute flick of the tail that she assumed kept it floating or the occasional and very awkward blink that covered large bulbous eyes for a mere split second. The single eel continued to watch her and click its appendages; though this time they seemed to click in a more bemused way.

"What do you want from me?" she half shrieked at the soundless eel as the silence began to smother her. She near lost control of her body but soon found herself being supported by dozens of the same eel like creatures. The cold, clammy scales felt strangely relaxing against Kikyou's fevered skin, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end and she was almost lulled into a land of everlasting happiness when she heard a soft hiss echo off the dirty bathroom walls.

"Forgive us our foolish trespassing Kikyou-dono; we are merely doing what our contract has bound us into doing."

At the sound of the strange though definitely male voice, Kikyou was jolted from whatever La la Land she was entering and at once began to scan the room in search of the hissing male that spoke to her, but her eyes only saw the lone eel before her. Once again, a thick silence engulfed the room as a perplexed Kikyou watched the eel, waiting for a sign to show that the eel was the one who had spoken to her but all she got was the occasional buzzing sound that came from the old light directly above her.

She wanted it to speak to her so badly; so that she would know that she was not indeed mad and that the eels both spoke and existed. But instead, said eel just watched her, making the soft clicking noise again before the bell rang, signalling both the end of one class and the beginning of another. One by one, the small army of eels began to diminish, until only Kikyou and the one she assumed to be the leader were left.

"What do you want from me?" she asked again, a slight quiver in her voice.

"We wish for nothing from Kikyou-dono, we merely do what we are bound to do."

A pause. Hundreds upon thousands upon millions of questions ran through her head at that time. What were they? Where did they come from? What contract were they bound to? Who did they make said contract with? Did they bring her to the bathroom? And such like questions passed through her mind, but at the sound of incoming voices, she settled on the one question that seemed important at the time.

"Why are you bound to me Spirit Eel?"

"My kin and I search the world for the souls of men and women who have not been bound to an afterlife any kind, and collect their wandering souls to deposit them into whomever our contract has bound us to."(!)

"I asked you why you are bound to me, not what you do! Now tell me, why are you bound to me?!" she snapped in a sudden wave of uncontrollable rage that burned like the fires at the birth of the ashen Kikyou, all gentleness and infantile curiosity aside.

"Yes, of course. I beg your forgiveness Kikyou-dono, your simple question deserves an equally simple answer, which in stupidity I have not provided."

The eel proceeded to the window with a leisurely pace, turning around when it was just about ready to leave and looked Kikyou in the eye for the last time. Its contract granted it one conversation only with the horribly afflicted Kikyou, for which he was glad, for it seemed that she was burning with many questions which he was not allowed to answer.

"We the Soul Collectors have been contracted to keep Kikyou-dono alive."

He motioned for Kikyou to look at the mirror and she saw large cracks in her face, through which blue vapours poured. Horrified, she swiftly turned to the eel who motioned for her to look at the mirror once more. Again, she did as she was told and was only minutely relieved to see that the cracks were mending themselves and soon her face was smooth again, with only the slightest of discolouration indicating that something had ever happened to her face.

"By the law of our contract, we may no longer speak after this Kikyou-dono."

"I see. Our first and last conversation….very well, you may rejoin your kin Soul Collector."

Finally the door burst open and a large group of girls entered the bathroom laughing and chattering away happily. None seemed to notice the solemn faced Kikyou who watched as the soul collector gave the slightest inclination of its head in manner of a nod and slipped away unnoticed out the open window.

It was then and only then that Kikyou seemed to have fully realised the magnitude of her situation. She was dying. And there was nothing anyone could do about it.

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For what seemed to have been the fifth time in three minutes, Rin yawned while vaguely listening to her first lecture for the day. The classroom seemed cheery enough, the walls bright with fresh paint and lots of open windows to allow the breeze to pass through, but after that there was not much that held her interest. Most of her fellow classmates were both paying attention and studiously making notes, much to her surprise and amusement, or doing what she was doing, namely looking around the classroom, surveying the scenery and looking bored.

It was at this point in time that she let her mind wander outside the room that she was cooped up in, sounds of the outside world drowning out the boring monotone of her Japanese professor as her mind began to work in all kinds of directions; she was suddenly back at her apartment/dorm room wandering around aimlessly while thinking. The fridge was basically empty which made her wonder what it was doing there anyway, after all, Sesshoumaru's meals were few and far between thanks to his weird metabolism and when he was hungry, he could afford to eat at any fancy restaurant he wanted.

"He probably makes reservations too." she murmured under her breath. Rin snorted at the thought of Sesshoumaru calculating when his next meal would be and leisurely thinking of which restaurant he should go to. The soft snores of the person next to her made her jump back to reality, only to realise that she had ten minutes left in her class and about forty-five minutes before the next one started.

She began to leisurely pack her stuff as she meticulously planned out the next forty-five minutes in her head. First, she would run down to the little supermarket on the corner and buy a few edible necessities: chicken, coffee, tons of instant Ramen noodles…, then, she would run back to the dorm, repack her bag and check her e-mail if she had any time left over; which she hoped she would have since her e-mail had been ignored for the last couple days due to her busy schedule and absolutely gorgeous roommate.

"And that concludes today's lecture."

Rin nearly hit the roof when those words reached her ears. All that was seen of her as she left was the pale orange blur that was her shirt and the odd shade of blue that was her skirt. The scenery flew by so fast it was a miracle that she could see where she was going and in what seemed like record time, she almost ran into the little super market on the corner but ran into someone instead.

Poor small Rin ricocheted off the solid body and half way across the street. She got up and began to dust herself and gather her scattered things when she found herself looking at a very expensive looking pair of high quality Italian leather shoes. Upon looking up, she held the gaze of a pair of smouldering golden eyes made shadowy under the feathery curtain of silver hair.

"You should watch where you're running wench." said a tight-lipped Sesshoumaru as he watched Rin gather the last of her oddly colourful stationery and stand to her full, yet very small, stature.

"Yeah, Rin supposes that she could watch where she is going, or maybe Sesshoumaru-san needs to be wary of pedestrians hurrying at full speed to the super-mini-mart on the corner." she half lectured with a grin planted on her face.

Raising an eyebrow at the obvious lunacy of his roommate, he proceeded to stalk off towards his next class when he felt Rin's small hand grab a hold of his arm. His eyebrows met and lowered to form a definite look of partial irritation; the best he could manage to express his disapproval at being touched without looking half crazed and neurotic. Throwing an icy glare in the direction of the ever cheerful Rin, he was met with the warmest, most sincere, not to mention the cheesiest smile he had ever seen in his life, putting the enigmatic grin of his now dead stepmother to shame.

At first perplexed, he looked away when he felt something tugging at his rusted heartstrings, almost as if he was being affected by the obviously cheeky advances of this wench. The thought in itself was preposterous, but the thought of having such a thought in the first place made Sesshoumaru feel completely scandalized. He, who could reject the most beautiful of women in a heartbeat, was being unwittingly seduced by a girl who would probably never have to officially define the word "class" or "elegance"? 'Even if I was,' he thought, 'she's so plain,' he looked back and with partial colour blindness; cast a scrutinizing eye on the clothes she chose to don for the day, 'and she dresses oddly.'

"Oi, Sesshoumaru-san; for the third time, where are you going?"

"To class. Not that it's any of your business and besides, weren't you going to the supermarket over there?" he growled softly at the small woman attached to him who happened to be steering him to the direction of the supermarket. Much to his surprise, he was more being held than led and silently cursed his body as they neared the quaint store.

Taking a step into the small cramped space, he looked around. With his half gargantuan size blocking out the sunlight that was lazily filtering through the minute door his demon eyes quickly readjusted themselves to the lack of light while he gaited slowly through the thin aisles. He spotted Rin looking at rows upon rows of instant noodles and for a fleeting moment wondered how and what Inuyasha was doing while simultaneously wishing evil upon him like the kind he was enduring. After the lapse into evil wishing, he once again focussed his attention on the minute Rin, who had since moved off to find a suitable coffee. She looked up and waved jovially at him before lifting up a can over the visible part of her head and pointing at it; obviously she wanted to know if he wanted that particular brand of coffee or not.

He made an attempt not to look exasperated for she obviously had not realised that sleep was as useless to him as the coffee would be. Why would he need something to wake him up if he had never fallen asleep in the first place? Some parts of the human logic always escaped his vast understanding of it and that was just one of the things that he had written off and put at the back of his mind for further contemplation at a later date.

For now, he would let her buy her coffee and later explain its uselessness to him after they both returned from their respective classes. With a dismissive wave of his hands, she stalked away to the cashier with her face wrinkled in concern. She looked back at him and mouthed if he was sure. Trying not to destroy the shop in frustration, he nodded emphatically and walked out of the store in silence.

Rin watched in confusion as Sesshoumaru nodded slightly and waved dismissively as a signal to go the cashier. She then trudged slowly in the vaguest of directions, a pensive look on her face. Looking back at him she asked if he was sure and he nearly banged his head on a shelf when he responded. Shrugging, she continued her walk to the cashier, reassuring herself that Sesshoumaru would be sure if he could stand the smell of extra-extra strong, roasted coffee beans…

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Kagome struggled hard to stifle the urge to stretch and yawn in her History class as the teacher droned on listlessly about the occurrences of the Sengoku Jidai era. Despite the incident that happened earlier that morning the day seemed rather uneventful; a little too uneventful actually. It had only been a few weeks since she had arrived at the school yet she knew that something was wrong.

After Kitai came to from her fainting spell, she had asked Kagome if she had noticed that Kikyou was missing. The absence of Kikyou's usual vicious comments struck Kagome as a little odd, especially after she realised Kikyou had skipped her first two classes. As much as she had grown to dislike her, it didn't make her any less worried.

The student next to her woke with a snort, snatching her from the thoughts that drifted through her brain like a mist. With a sigh she wondered what Sango was up to; probably waiting for the bell to signal school's end same as herself. They had met at lunch, with Kitai showing Sango about the school, eyes wide and bright like a 5 yr old on a sugar high. The infamous yet short lived ice cream cone came to mind and she gave a stifled chuckle.

As if reading her mind, the shriek of the bell echoed throughout the empty corridors. The scraping of desks and chairs against the worn down floor accompanied her relieved sigh.

"I thought that would never end." she said as she stretched her body to its maximum potential.

"I know." groaned a nearby person. Kagome smiled to herself as she gathered her stuff and charged out of the room, joining the thronging crowd in the hallways. She managed to spot Sango's brown head bobbing up and down.

"Oh hey Kagome I was looking for you just now."

"Ready to leave I take it?"

Sango only smiled. The two walked down the corridor, about to go down the steps when Kagome stopped. On impulse, she checked her bag and noticed that her notebook was missing. She frowned disapprovingly into her bag while Sango peered curiously at her.

"Tch. Forgot a book, I'll be right back Sango, just wait here."

Kagome bounded back into the crowd, her head soon disappearing from view. By the time she reached the classroom it was empty save for one person. Long midnight black hair swayed as Kikyou turned around, clutching Kagome's notebook in her long pale fingers. Unsure of what to do, she froze momentarily before Kikyou acknowledged her presence.

"Higurashi," she started, "this is yours I believe."

Her voice was cold and vicious, biting into Kagome's skin long after she had closed her mouth. The smart clacking of shoe heels was the only sound heard as Kagome approached Kikyou with her hand help out in expectancy. Yet Kikyou's slender fingers only tightened their captive hold on her notebook. Pressing it gently into her chest, she turned and watched Kagome with dead grey eyes.

Silence passed between them for a moment before Kagome inched closer to Kikyou, hand having only slightly faltered after her first attempt to get back her book.

"Kikyou I really need that book for my homework tonight."

"Tell me something Higurashi," she said as though Kagome had never spoken, "if you had to choose between two places where would you rather be? With everyone else though you know you don't belong there or where you belong, even though it means eternal solitude?"

Kagome froze at the girl's odd question. Kikyou had not been looking at her when she had asked that, yet she could almost feel her unwavering gaze focussing on her through her words. Another poise filled moment passed between them.

"Would you rather be clay or ash?"

In the instant she gathered her thoughts, Kikyou turned on her, the cold radiating off her body and sucking all the oxygen out of the room.

"I think…I think if it really came down to it, I think I'd rather be clay. I'd rather be where everyone I've ever loved is, because, if you think about it, you always belong where your friends and family are."

Her words were slow and awkward, stumbling over one another with uncertainty and clumsiness. She knew this, Kikyou recognised as a faint blush crossed her cheeks, and yet she didn't seem bothered. Instead, her lips curled upwards in a slight smile and the warmth rolled off her body like an unruly and tumultuous wave, drawing Kikyou's dying body into the promise of life and vitality. The book slid fromher hands as a blank expression stole onto her face. Picking up her book from the ground, Kagome straightened herself before smiling kindly at Kikyou.

"Perhaps, Kikyou, the things you fear to be so different are the same. Maybe there is no clay or ash, but only clay _and_ ash. I guess we'll never really know will we?"

With that Kagome left Kikyou to her thoughts, her measured paces turning to hurried footsteps as she no doubt rushed to get home. The wind toyed with her dark hair as she stood there, still in shock for a moment before her features hardened into the schooled mask of disapproval and simultaneous nonchalance.

"No Higurashi, they always were and always will be different, it's just that you're too naïve to see that."

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(!)Ni miko, ichi houshi, ichi youkai, ichi taijiya to ni hanyou onaji rei mondai.' Is supposed to mean, two miko, one houshi, one youkai, one taijiya and two hanyou equals zero problems. I was just pulling random words out of my dictionary so excuse my shoddy Japanese.

The stench of death that Kaede smelt isn't an actual smell. It's only because of her heightened spiritual prowess that she can _sense_ Kikyou's presence, but the presence is so overwhelming that it becomes tangible like a scent. Makes sense? I hope so.

Our lovely friends the Spirit collectors, the slimy best friends of Kikyou. I wasn't sure of what they did so this is what is my interpretation of what they do.

Hikaru M.: Well it's been a while now hasn't it folks? My writing style has changed completely from being fun and interactive to this stuffy old nonsense. Oh well, do review to tell me if you like the change or not, because I'm willing to accommodate your requests as much as I can. Also you might notice that this chappie is a little disjointed but that's only because half was done before I went on indefinite hiatus and the last half was me trying to regain the feel of the story. I apologise sincerely for the wait, anything I can help you with just drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.


	7. Eye of Kaede

Hikaru M.: Hmmmm now to continue with Chapter 7 of CAFAD. Due to my prolonged hiatus I confess that I have forgotten some of the ideas I had queued up for this chapter and indeed all the other chapters but never fear! I'm slowly reconstructing the events of the story, which is working wonders for my Harry Potter addiction which I've been so wont to get rid off for the past few weeks. Enough about me though and onto chapter 7!

**Fun fact # 4: I****, at one point, thought that all dog demons looked alike which is why Kitai and Inuyasha look similar. **God honest truth. It never once occurred to me that dog demons, like dogs themselves, came in different shapes and colours and what have you. Never once did it register when I saw Kouga and his pack but it _did_ register when I was watching an episode that had cat demons in it (or at least I think so; it was such a long time ago) but by then CAFAD had already been posted and I was way too lazy to change it…so…Kitai secretly dies her hair ;

Disclaimer: In the event of writing this fiction I did not make any profit off the characters used. If I did it really wouldn't be a _fan _fiction now would it? Thought

not…

Chasing A Far Away Dream

Chapter 7: Eye of Kaede

_Kikyou fell to the ground screaming as the blood spurted from wound that _he_ had just inflicted. Her flesh had felt so soft, almost immaterial, underneath the sharp caress of his claws, sinking into the muscles and drawing streams of her bright red blood into the open air. The relief that swept through him as she fell to the ground pitifully was indescribable, as if he had been waiting to be rid of Kikyou, born for the sole purpose of ridding the world of her presence. _

_Her eyes burned with hatred and confusion as they glazed over but he couldn't be bothered. Always a thorn in his side; he had perhaps loved her once but now he had to be rid of her, destroy her at all costs because she had no place in his world. Maybe she never had. Words spilled from his mouth, taunts, hanging them over her head so that she could clearly see her shame. There was nothing but taunts, jibes about her weakness, her uselessness…_

_He was walking away now, off to revel in his new found freedom, clenching the pink orb in his hand. Though he wasn't sure as to when he had picked it up he figured it would be handy at some point. It surged with quickly fading power and he inspected it while leaving Kikyou's body behind, the smell of her blood filling the air. He hadn't seen when Kikyou stumbled to her feet, the deadly fire of revenge burning in her mercury coloured eyes. __He did, however, hear the grass rustling unnaturally, and turned to see her, bow at the ready, her gaze unwavering._

_It didn't matter when she let the tense string go, falling to the ground as she did so, because Kikyou was a nonentity. Everything she did as of the moment he struck her down became inconsequential, even as her arrow pierced his heart, the purification racing through his veins biting with a cold he could never imagine. He was free of her now, and no matter how hard she tried she could never affect him. _

_Even as the arrow pinned him to a tree, freezing the very blood in his veins all he could do was laugh at Kikyou. That bitch, she thought she could get revenge on him that simply? It wasn't just a case of hurt me and I hurt you back, because she was dead, he was only hibernating…some day he would be free of her intrusive nonsense and she would be nothing but ashes trapped in a vase. _

_With a smirk he relaxed for the last time till God knows when, feeling his body shut down organ by organ. It was just like sleep, letting his eyelids flutter shut as his unconscious body waited the dawn of a new morn. And this time when he finally awakes, she wouldn't be there, lending her fake sympathetic ear, trying to stem his self hatred yet only fanning it with those pitying eyes, burning him with her prejudice against his kind that she would never admit to in front of him. _

_Yes, when he awakes her and her loathsome hypocrisy and lies and secrets would all be gone. It would be just like waking from a long, torturous bad dream…_

A quick jolt woke the sleeping Inuyasha. His breathing was laboured as the scenes from his dream flashed through his mind. The one that caught his attention was the image of Kikyou, dead at his feet, the blood seeping from her miko robes, staining them with the dark accusatory red colour of blood. Every thought, every feeling he had in the dream still raced through his body, constricting his heart in a most painful way. He had feelings for her…so how could he hate her so much?

As he began to calm down, he noticed with particular ire that outside was still dark. Everything about him seemed stifling hot, from the thick white mane on his head to the sopping wet vest that clung desperately to his body. He peeled it off, flinging it as far from him as possible and pulling his hair into some form of knot at the nape of his neck. The heat was everywhere, radiating from every conceivable object in the room.

He tried to turn on the AC but it had been busted for the last couple of weeks. That must've been the cause of the heat that was surely driving him insane as he ripped the sheets from him and ran out into the blessedly cool hallway. Pressing his back against the cold tile of the living room floor, he let out a contented sigh as the cool raced across the breadth and width of his body, making Goosebumps break out on his skin. Tiredness washed over him soon after, drawing him into a light sleep before plunging him back into his dream world.

_It had been years since Kikyou had pinned him to the tree. He wasn't fully conscious yet he was acutely aware of that fact, and though the Kikyou he knew was dead, the mangled shadow of her memory made him stay, as though awaiting her return. Sure as hell didn't matter to him either way, he would kill her again and again if it ever came down to it. Every day that passed, the ki that coursed through his veins became weaker, bringing him closer to the consciousness he sought until he was just beneath the surface of it, like a layer of ice he was unable to pierce. _

_The scents and sounds of the forest around him reached him all the same in his frozen state and as the days passed by, he found himself more able to form coherent thoughts. As odd as it was, he found the limbo to be pleasant though the constant forced state of leisure irritated him. It was one day when the sweltering summer heat was grating on his nerves that he smelt the reassuring calm of another's ki. His nerve endings were still dormant but he would bet anything that the ki caressed his body with cool tendrils of holy energy. A thousand thoughts plagued his mind when suddenly there was a sharp pain in his chest. _

_That pain, though unexpected was a blessing and a curse. It was excruciating when he felt the blade being wrenched from its bed in his heart but after it came the long awaited paradox of pleasure. After that initial pain, every imaginable sensation rushed him, overwhelming him as though every thing he had been missing was waiting for him. He opened his eyes slowly; the dying sunlight was bright to him and every colour more vivid than he remembered. He was a little unstable on his feet as he looked about, soaking up the changes of the forest while teetering from side to side. It was then that a pleasant tingling on his skin alerted him to the presence of another. The dream world was fading slowly into darkness now, turning black on the outskirts of his vision and quickly consuming everything. But before the world completely turned black he turned to see a pair of crystalline sapphire eyes glinting at him in the waning sunlight. _

Inuyasha writhed on the floor, still asleep, unaware of the sunshine slowly seeping in through an open window. He occasionally winced as though in pain but soon all movement subsided as he relaxed back into a calm sleep. Inutaisho had been sitting across from him in a loveseat, watching him with interest, when he barely sighed out a name before rolling over to back his father with a snort.

"Kagome…"

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A loud sneeze reverberated through the sleepy house and Kagome woke with a start, wiping her nose with the back of her hand with a drawn out sniff.

"What a way to start the morning. I hope I'm not coming down with something."

Sango looked up from her position, hunched predatorily over her cereal bowl, to eye Kagome. After spending most of the night trying to get her homework done, she looked a little worse for wear, with her hair tousled and her eyes narrowed to slits to block out excess light. Or she just looked like that because she just woke up. You could never really be sure with her.

"You know they say that means someone is talking about you."

"Sango you don't honestly believe in that do you?"

She shrugged offhandedly in response while poking at the errant cereal flakes with her spoon.

"I'm just saying. It's kinda odd to just sneeze once. If you were catching something or having a sinus problem it would be more than one sneeze."

There was an expectant silence in the kitchen as they waited to see if she would sneeze again. Kagome scowled at Sango who only continued to pick at her cereal.

"I read online that if you want to know who's talking about you, you ask for a 3 digit number, add them up then see which letter of the alphabet corresponds to it. Ummm, 414."

Kagome rolled her eyes yet humoured Sango nonetheless. '4 1 49. The ninth letter in the alphabet is…I…' She tried to stifle her shocked reaction as Sango finally finished her cereal and was rinsing her bowl in the sink. If Sango was actually right (which she probably wasn't but still for fairness' sake she was giving her the benefit of the doubt) then that meant that Inuyasha was talking about her. But why on earth would he be talking about her?

"Dibs on the bathroom!" Sango called from upstairs.

Kagome sighed dejectedly as she washed up her own breakfast stuff. She had really wanted to shower first…but then when she thought about it, she could use the time alone to think about why Inuyasha could have been talking about her. Not, of course, that he was, she was merely entertaining the thought, and quite the entertainer it was as she found herself wrapped in all kinds of theories. Whatever fascination it was that she had with him was only physical. Purely physical and nothing else. Yet.

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Rin sat alone at the breakfast table, basking in the mid-morning sunshine as she tipped a mug full of coffee to her lips. The sweet aroma was enough to send her dull senses into a frenzied overdrive. A small, comfortable smile eased its way onto her lips as she felt the warm liquid coursing through her stomach, bringing the sleeping nerve endings to life. Her next class wasn't until a few hours later but she had decided that she could always use the extra hours to read ahead so she didn't have to struggle with her homework when it came around…

She snorted into her steamy cup. 'Right. That would be the day…Rin, nerdstradorindare…me thinks not.' Instead, her plans involved perusing the net, updating her website, checking her email and otherwise wasting an unholy amount of time. I mean, it's not like she was struggling with her workload, even though it was only her first week of classes, so she had all the time in the world.

It was at this moment that Sesshoumaru approached the table, his eyes taking in the sight of Rin serenely drinking her coffee as she glowed ethereally in the streaming morning sunlight. She appeared to be at peace with the calm of the morning but he couldn't find it within himself to care. Nope, his interest was solely on that steaming cup of devil juice that Rin had in her hand.

It took some time for her to register that he was towering menacingly over her as she sat with her eyes closed, and she seemed to have completely missed the malevolent twinkle in his golden eyes because she was definitely _not_ afraid of him at that moment.

"Why, hullo there Sesshoumaru." she said in a more than chipper voice, no doubt the work of the accursed drink nestled in her small hands. His thin lips dipped downwards into a slight frown and there was the faintest creasing in his forehead.

Silence passed between them before he smoothly slid the mug from her hands and in one fluid and unwavering movement, poured the contents down the drain. On the verge of protest, Rin watched as he then opened all the windows and stalked back to his room. As he was about to return through the open door, he turned to look at her.

"I don't know what you're getting at but I'd rather you not drink that horrid smelling drink in this dorm."

She blinked twice before the pieces fit together in her mind.

"But it's an extra special blend…"

"I couldn't care less if it was crystallised cat urine, it irritates my nose so don't drink it."

"Hey! I live here too, and besides, I asked you if you were ok with it before I bought it! You _gave _me the go-ahead Sesshoumaru!"

"You never _asked_ me if I wanted that devil's juice in _my_ dorm. _You _were pointing at it, but you _never_ asked me anything."

"But I…"

"You seem to forget that I have acute hearing. If you'd merely spoken I would've heard you instead of letting you buy this crap, which I can _smell_ in my room as I have an acute sense of smell also. So if you don't mind, I'd like to go back to my studying _without_ having to smell your coffee."

With that he walked into his dorm, bringing the door back into its frame with a loud bang. Rin sat pouting; she had never pegged Sesshoumaru as the drama queen type. 'I guess you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover,' she thought with a frown, hands still holding an imaginary mug, 'so much for the white knight in shining armour.'

Sticking her tongue out at the shut door, she got out of her chair, going to each open window and slowly easing them shut. Due to their different schedules they barely saw each other so Rin didn't actually know much about her silver haired roommate except for what she heard around the campus. 'We even study in different campuses' she mused silently as she slid the last window shut.

The expression she bore was thoughtful as she wandered somewhat aimlessly to her room. If rumours were anything to go by, he was the eldest son of some rich businessman, an elaborate spender, a reckless driver, a secret tech-nerd, an undercover porn-star ("He just _has _to be! Look at him!" she remembered a girl squealing to her friend), a collector of poisonous mushrooms _and _on top of that, and other rumours that she'd heard, he was actually the first man on the moon. The last one always made her giggle whenever she thought about it, but it always made her wonder why there were so many conversations with him at its core. It would be enough to make one anti-social. Or was it all because he was anti-social?

Whenever they came to her for clarification, she would never know what to say. No, he isn't a porn star…I've never seen any giant fungi in his room….I don't recall seeing a cupboard full of propaganda…I've never caught him in my underwear…Good Gods! Where on earth did you hear something like that? And the list went on. She wasn't sure if he knew about all the circulating rumours, but she did what she could to stop it from spreading.

"He seems like a nice enough guy, just a little….."

Her feet brought her up to his door, which had apparently opened a bit during her wandering. Through the slight crack in the door she saw him sitting serenely backing an open window. In his hands sat an open book, his golden eyes darted from word to word before his long clawed fingers turned the page. The wind, it seems, had made a fair mess of his hair, with strands slipping off his broad shoulders, causing him ever so often to tuck it behind a delicately pointed ear.

Very few were the times that she got to look at him, to really examine his features. He looked like a picture straight from a shoujo manga, hair long and usually tidy, eyes beautifully slanted despite being Asian, cheekbones high under beautiful milky white skin and her eyes couldn't help but follow the markings of his face, the delicate but regal nose, the deep violet crescent moon lying the crown of such perfection.

"…Cold." She whispered to herself, finally finishing her sentence. Her eyes lingered on him a while longer, not realising how long it had been since he had turned a page. When she finally came to her senses, she made a quick start for her room, embarrassed at the amount of time she spent gawking at him (much like a stalker would, she thought through her flustered haze).

As soon as she left the doorway he looked up, eyes penetrating the spot where she was just standing. She probably hadn't remembered that he would be able to sense her, smell her, standing there, and in the lull, he could hear her every movement. She was an odd one that Rin. Instead of buying into all the silly rumours that had been whizzing about, she deflected them all, one by one, with an embarrassed blush and a stutter. He never quite understood why, they never spoke much and he hardly ever gave her reason to defend him when they did. But she did anyway and it secretly enthralled him, making him pay attention to the most innocuous of her details in an effort to figure her out. She was not like her kind; she was innocent in a way, void of the prejudice that perpetuated ignorance in her kind.

"I'm an alright guy," he repeated to himself, "but am I really cold?"

It was an answer he didn't want to hear. To clear his mind, he turned the page of the novel he had been reading. He hadn't gotten very far when he noticed her watching him and in an attempt to head off any further thoughts his eyes darted to the top of the new page.

"Yes, you are. And you always will be as long as you deny it." it read.

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It was unusually early day for Miroku as he strolled down the slowly filling corridors. He wasn't really one for punctuality, preferring to make an appearance after he knew that everyone was already there; waiting around for school to start was definitely one of the things he'd rather be the last to show up for. He sighed: if his mother hadn't hijacked the car and wrecked it with her amazingly reckless driving, he wouldn't have had to ride to school. It immediately made him think of Hojo from his younger school days; the boy was well-rounded and nice, even Miroku had to admit, but for personality he didn't rank very high. For all his well-intentioned antics, he just wasn't very interesting; a woman appreciator like Miroku on the other hand….

"Ah! Miroku-san, a bit strange seeing you at school so early."

Looking for the person addressing him, his eyes were met with the face of none other than Kitai. As usual, her long shimmering white hair lay unbound, prone to fly all about whenever the wind picked up. Her face shone with a genuine cheerfulness and innocence that he had only seen mirrored in Kagome. By demon standards he was sure that she would still be considered a pup as she had not yet gone into heat, despite his appearing to be of age. As a testimony to that, he took careful notice of the thin layer of baby fat that lined her otherwise graceful face. She was one of many beautiful faces that demon kind had produced he thought to himelf.

"I had to ride to school since my car got written off." he said a little sheepishly.

Immediately, her eyes lit up with concern. He thought back to their much younger days, before Kouga had intervened on their friendship.

"Written off? I hope that you're not too badly affected. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just my mother doing a bit of reckless driving. You know how she gets sometimes."

She nodded a bit at his dismissive tone, casting a sly look back to scan the corridors.

"Akane-dono was always one for fast driving."

He smiled at her, noticing Kouga's approaching figure he assumed a rather stand-offish and relaxed posture, leaning casually against his locker.

"Well…I guess I'll see you around then."

She cast her eyes downwards and her voice came out a soft whisper.

"I guess so. It was…nice to talk to you."

And then she hurried off. Miroku exhaled loudly and ruffled his bangs a little. It had been a while since he had an earnest conversation with her and all interactions that they'd had were either strained or consisted of him helping himself to a playful molestation of her rear end. He'd never had much time to dwell on it at any rate, he spent most of his time womanising and hanging out with Inuyasha. In the beginning it had wounded him a little (perhaps he was developing a tiny crush on the soft-spoken half-breed pup) but after 6 years, she was still the same, and he himself had grown immeasurably. For one, he had outgrown his boyish charm and had since progressed to a more smooth tongued and debonair approach.

"Oi hentai! I hear that Horibuchi's out for the week so we pretty much don't have English."

"Oh is that so? Thanks for the heads up then."

A moment of silence passed between the two as they looked at one another, each sizing up the other not paying attention to the slowly filtering stream of students walking past. Miroku's face slipped into a smug smile that was vaguely reminiscent of a smirk. Kouga became a little sceptical when the self-satisfied, know-it-all-and-then-some smile crossed the houshi's face.

"So you done being jealous of me now?"

"I never was hentai, so what on earth are you talking about?"

"What is with you demons and not acknowledging your shortcomings? I know I'm quite amazing but there's no need to be so defensive."

"What the…that was never about jealousy and you know it. I didn't think she should be associating with a pervert like you and that's all there is to it."

"There's so much more to it than you're letting on," he muttered before starting up in a playful tone, "but whatever makes you feel good at night. I hope that for all this turf protection you're doing that you two end up having lots of pups together."

Kouga spluttered horribly, the shock clear on his face. Miroku stifled a chuckle at how similar he was to Inuyasha, all one had to do was mention mating and all coherent conversation would die.

"Are you out of your _mind_? Me and her…mates! I honestly don't know where you get this crap from houshi, perhaps you spend too much time with inu-turd…ah! Kagome, my love! Well, I'll see you around then hentai."

And with a quick wave of his hand, Kouga was gone with the crowd, pony tail bouncing with every quick step he took to catch up to Kagome. She had only been there for a few weeks but Kagome was definitely quite the addition to the school, stirring trouble everywhere she went. And when her friend, Sango came along…

"Double the trouble…" he said dreamily as he imagined himself being tended to by the two lovely girls from Onoda.

"I don't even want to know what you're thinking about." a voice next to him said.

"Ah Sango my dear, you know that my thoughts are always fixed on you."

"I'd really rather them be fixed on something else thanks."

"No need to be bashful my dear. Confessions of love run rampant in these parts."

Sango rolled her eyes and slammed her locker shut.

"Of all the freaks in the school and I had to have my locker next to you."

"It's fate. Quite simply the most beautiful act ever executed by the gods."

His hand stole a light squeeze as she began to walk away. In response, she simply drove the slap of a lifetime into his face, hitting his head into her locker and denting it slightly.

"Quit groping me you pervert!" and off she stomped, face red with embarrassment as she mumbled about stupid Tokyo perverts. Oh well, at least he enjoyed it for all two seconds that it lasted…

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Kaede watched as the day went by with relative ease. Despite a few ill-behaved students, the day passed with no incident, a welcome thing after she had passed out a few days back. Word had not spread of what occurred and for that she was thankful, for she knew that if they thought that she was about to kick the bucket chaos would erupt in the school. Even though Naraku was the principal, anyone who was anyone knew that true disciplinary power resided with her; Naraku just handled that administrative mumbo-jumbo.

Now that her mind was on Naraku, she could not help but think of his odd obsession with Kikyou. Something about his home life kept him distracted in a most strange, and decidedly creepy, way: as much as he might feel fatherly pride, it wasn't normal for a man to be so…concerned about his three "daughters". All adopted of course as he had never had a woman in his life for all the years she knew him, yet there in his home he had three young women, and it was enough to make any sane person worry.

Naraku himself was a being shrouded in mystery and rumour. Kagura, Kikyou and Kanna were each as mysterious as the man whose home they shared, all having, at some point, passed through the school. Neither hide nor hair of their biological families was seen, save Kikyou's uncanny resemblance to Kagome, and they all seemed strangely withdrawn from interactions with their peers.

This was true of Kanna especially as she hardly ever spoke to anyone unless Naraku was there. Kagura on the other hand proved to be quite the opposite, an outgoing and rebellious youth, while Kikyou lay somewhere in between the two, sociable but prone to moments of brooding. Of the three, Kagura was the only one with any vague resemblance to Naraku but she didn't carry the same family name. A very odd family indeed.

Kaede wasn't one to nosey in the business of other people, but with Naraku she couldn't help but find herself wondering. All documents pertaining to those three were handled by him, and only him. Sometimes she wondered about more than the lives of his surrogate daughters; sometimes she wondered about him.

He claimed to be of the demon race but never said anything after that. His family name did not trace back to any recognisable clans that had existed in Asia as far as she knew and though she could feel the power pouring off him in torrents, she had never seen him use his abilities. She had no idea who he was, where he came from or what he was even capable of and that bothered her.

Whenever she had time she observed him; his office seemed normal enough but she knew that within there was an inner office. No one was ever allowed inside it, wherever it was, and it piqued her dimmed curiosity. Working so closely with him, she couldn't help but notice how excited he seemed to be whenever another test came around. She always wondered where this steady supply of lesser demons came from, but she knew that if that thought fermented into a question it would never get an answer.

There had been an incident a few years back when the bodies of students, demons, that had died during a test had disappeared completely. It had been not too long after Naraku had been made principal and she could never shake that feeling that he had something to do with it. Not too long after that, there had been rumours circulating amongst the demon kind in the school that Naraku was some kind of leech; a being with a psychological desire to acquire the abilities of demons to strengthen himself. Rumours had it that the demon network, a dwindling group where everyone was familiar, had never had a clan with his name; he was not known within the various cliques and so could not possibly be a demon from Japan, though he professed to be born and raised in Tokyo.

She had seen a lot of things in her lifetime, but this perplexed her the most: a demon unknown by his brethren, living with two other demons, both unknown, and a miko. The mere absurdity of it all made her mind focus on Kikyou, or more specifically Kikyou's miko energies. Now Kaede, being the well learnt miko that she was had heard of detached miko energies but had never studied that far into the realm of possibilities. Now, she was living it.

All logic would have dictated that the energies would have died out a long time ago, having either been conquered by her own energies or just by the sheer length of time. Yet with the memory of overwhelming pain in her eye socket fresh in her mind, she realised that this was definitely not the case. And since the revival of the dormant energies she had noticed that Kikyou's energies fluctuated violently from barely perceptible to overpowering. She hadn't quite connected the dots but she knew that whatever it was was only the beginning in a chain of events. Kikyou may have taken her eye, but she hadn't taken the old woman's perception.

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It was the middle of the school day and so far, Kikyou had been having an average day. Her morning consisted of sheer agony and fatigue, a visit by the soul collectors and then a morning full of classes which she spent watching Kagome and that loathsome hanyou, Kitai. For any class that needed pairing, it was assured that they'd pick each other.

It was annoying to say the least, and after watching them every period (except English, when Kagome was off to her advanced class- Kikyou enjoyed watching Kitai struggle helplessly without her); she sat through a silent lunch with Inuyasha. Something was coming between them; she wasn't sure if it was her growing disdain for life but he seemed a bit distant; whatever it was she would figure it out and fix it. He was her only constant thing in life, and she wouldn't let him go.

At this point she was seated beneath a tree, skipping whatever class it was that she had. It wasn't like her to miss a class but she just couldn't be bothered to watch those two again. They were frustratingly annoying, especially Kagome; for a person mourning her father she spent a lot of time smiling and laughing.

'And clinging to Inuyasha.'

The thought didn't surprise her when it came hissing upwards from the depths of her mind: she had also noticed since Kagome's arrival that Inuyasha's attention had been straying. Nothing hinting towards romance was evident yet, the pair could barely stand one another but she knew that beneath the appearances, there was some vague interest in the other and she was wholly intent on stomping it out.

She looked up at the cloudless skies, enjoying the feel of the wind on her skin and waiting for the appearance of a soul collector slithering through the sky, cutting the calm with its eerie appearance. It was a tad strange at first but she eventually came to find their constant presence reassuring, their dedication to their task admirable.

As if reading her thoughts, a familiar blue-green serpentine figure with a glowing blue orb clasped safely in its claws descended from the sky. She drew her knees up to her chest and watched, waiting for it to bring its chill with it. Sure enough, it descended, slowing down as it neared her, keeping what she figured must be respectable distance, before releasing its burden to let it fall onto Kikyou. The chill that they brought with them always gave her Goosebumps but she never let it bother her.

Power surged though her body as she watched it begin to float away. The feeling was almost as good as when she had re-adsorbed her miko from Kaede's eye socket. She wondered briefly if that was what a high felt like and just then a thought crossed her mind.

"Soul collector, wait awhile."

In the short space of time it had made a considerable distance and for a moment she thought that her bland whisper wouldn't reach it but as she looked up she noticed a tiny speck slowly getting larger as it returned to her. Soon others came swarming in, all with the same glowing load to deliver. Congregating around her, they caused a mist to form as they one by one released their captured souls and waited for them to settle into Kikyou.

She looked amongst them, trying to distinguish their scaly bodies from the thin mist, hoping that the request that she was about to make would be taken seriously.

"Your job is to ensure my comfort and continued life. There is something that you can bring for me…so much better than these souls."

Her words were slow and soft, carefully chosen to guarantee maximum impact. She wasn't sure if they were even listening to her, but none of them had left yet, so she took that as a good sign. Being on the receiving end, she wasn't really sure who drew up the contract, though she was almost sure it was Naraku, and since she wasn't the one who thought it up she wasn't sure if she was allowed to make requests but it was worth a try.

"There is an old woman, Kaede, who has an eye patch. Months ago, I accidentally put some of my miko energies in her eye. She almost died from it but she survived, and so did my miko. If it's still in her eye, I don't know. What I do know, is that her eye socket still houses most of it, and that its power makes these souls pale in comparison."

All around her the chill intensified as more souls were deposited on her, sending vitality coursing through her veins and forcing her to shiver. They were increasing in number, she could tell, as the mist began to slowly thicken and the temperature dropped some more. The silence was eerie as they all watched her expectantly with the large black, glassy eyes. She clenched her jaw in an attempt to keep her teeth from chattering, a brief touch of her leg telling her that her Goosebumps were becoming more pronounced as the time passed.

"Bring it for me."

More silence. Then one by one, they all slivered off in different directions carrying the chill and mist with them until there was no trace of them left in sight. Looking up, she realised the sky was still cloudless and blue save for the one soul collector. She presumed it to be their leader, the one she had spoken with what seemed ages ago. Her tempestuous grey eyes followed it through the sky and through a window.

Just as she had expected, it was Naraku's window. The revelation didn't shock her, it merely confirmed something that she knew in her heart to be reality. Naraku wanted her alive; she didn't really know anything about the man yet she knew that he was the reason she was alive.

And, for some inexplicable reason, she knew that he would be the reason she would die.

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"She's made a request."

Naraku paused from writing on a slip of paper, waiting a moment before looking up at his visitor. He reclined into his chair, fingers laced and hands resting gently against the table. His crimson eyes rested on the soul collector before him that was patiently waiting for his statement to be acknowledged.

"Oh. What would that be?"

"To retrieve an eye belonging to a woman named Kaede. She has said that…"

"Kaede? That is no mere woman my friend, she is a miko, a powerful and old one at that. Getting her eye is much easier said than done."

"So we are not to retrieve the eye for Kikyou-dono?"

He took a moment for thought. By his estimation, the entire situation was hardly worth the hassle yet he found himself indulging in countless troublesome predicaments. His curiosity (he detested the term experiment) as to whether or not his body could sustain both holy and demonic powers was beginning to cost him greatly and becoming more dangerous but instead of being less inclined to continue, he found himself charging onward whilst enjoying the adrenaline rush. Kikyou's life meant next to little to him; only his…curiosity kept her alive.

She was spawned from earthen elements and holy energy unknowingly donated by a houshi who had apparently died recently. That in itself was a bit problematic as she had not quite…ripened yet for lack of a better term. He needed her at her full potential, nothing less; he was determined to see his curiosity satisfied. After all, he was born human so no harm would come to him if he accidentally purified himself. It was all part of life and in his mind it would definitely be a mistake worth making.

"It depends. Why does she want this eye?"

"Months ago she displaced miko energy in it and she believes that by regaining it, she will become stronger."

"Ah yes. The accident."

His face held the same blank look with a slight smirk but his mind was reeling. How could he have forgotten about that accident? If he looked back on the months that had passed since then, he would realise that it marked a period of fluctuation and general decline in Kikyou's health. She appeared fine, but was unstable even then for he knew that miko energy wasn't that easy to displace; she seemed to be a mere vessel of the energy, unable to actually recreate and perpetuate it.

That in itself didn't bode well for the outcome but at least he now had a solution.

"Get her the eye then. However, this does not mark the end of your contract. I still expect you to bring her a daily quota of souls in case this…escapade falls through."

"Of course Onigumo Naraku-dono."

And with that the eel left, slithering out through the window and off to fulfil its mission. Naraku resumed his writing, the dark waves of his hair cascading around his face. In the silence, he slowly began to smirk, malevolence clear on his face.

"Let Kikyou think that her life is important…but then again I suppose it is. Every sheep off to the slaughter has a stomach to fill."

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For some reason, Naraku's contemptuous and dark chuckle was on Inuyasha's mind. He was walking down the corridor on his way to Math (oh how he loathed that subject) when he felt a distant chill in the air. Looking about him, he noticed that the sky outside was a brilliant shade of blue, cloudless and just perfect; inside the corridor however, a thick mist was beginning to form causing him to break out into Goosebumps. As a half demon, he was very rarely affected by the cold so he figured that the goosebumps had to be the work of some…presence.

"Oh wow, that sounds smart." he said, clearly unimpressed by his articulation of thought. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere there was an otherworldly presence, outside the realm of a mere demon like himself. Or half-demon if you really want to be specific about it…

Just as he was about to dismiss the thought he saw, or rather felt, something brush past him. Cold and scaly, it appeared to be an eel but he knew for a fact that eels can't fly, so he figured it must be a lesser demon of some sort. Questions were beginning to form in his mind when he spotted someone coming down the corridor.

"Inuyasha? Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Oh can it you old hag, I'm on my way. It's not like it's important anyways, just some stupid test about equations." he called out as he casually brushed past the old woman. There really wasn't any need to be in a hurry as far as he was concerned.

"Those marks go onto your term report!"

"Keh. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. Koyamada'll see me when I get there." Kaede heard his voice shout back from around the corner. She knew he'd get there in time; he might have an awful attitude at times and a real indifference to work but she knew that deep down he was a good person.

Inuyasha now off her mind, she went back to her real reason for being in the corridor: investigating the cause of the mysterious fog. It hadn't settled for long but her miko senses told her there was definitely something odd at work. No sooner had she thought that, a lesser demon, a misshaped dragon of sorts, came charging at her. Putting her old reflexes to work, she quickly drew a paper charm to throw at it disintegrating it in seconds.

She was alert now, tense and waiting for any other signs of life. The floor she was on didn't have many classes at this time of day so she knew that the students would be safe from any lingering demons. Hopefully, they'd be able to take care of themselves.

It was a full charge now, several of them emerging from the mist at the same time. At her age she had been in more troubling predicaments so she had no trouble disposing of them all yet she knew that something else was lurking in the mist. A few more here and there, but as she wandered further down the corridor her sense of not being alone was at full blast. She had come to the top of a stairwell when she felt it; a cold scale sliding across her hand.

In an instant she was ready to react yet her body would not cooperate. She felt light-headed and dizzy, welcoming a darkness that was slowly falling upon her. A breeze blew across her almost empty eye socket yet she could not find it within herself to care. The blackness had eaten most of her vision now, and there were no sounds in her ears save for an odd ringing noise.

Then, with no warning, there was a flash of pain, hot and electric across her skin. Her entire body jolted as the cold concentrated under her eye patch. Around her she could now see hundreds of eel like creatures, soul collectors, in her face and all over her, restraining her.

For the second time in under a week she felt a charge in her eye socket; Kikyou's miko was reawakening. It was at that moment that she felt another pain. It wasn't the sharp pain of the miko energy, but a physical pain. They were trying to remove the remnants of scarred eye tissue left.

From the base of her stomach came a rumble that, as it travelled upwards, became a scream, a horrifyingly loud shriek of pain as what remained of her eye was ripped outwards, the energies shocking the reopening wounds as their vessel was forcibly removed from its owner. Blood gushed outwards; she hadn't been aware that so much of her eye had remained.

The patch fell from her face, exposing the yawning chasm to the open air. For the second time that day, blackness swarmed her vision, but this time, the emptiness she felt was caused by shock and as she collapsed, tumbling down the stairwell, she dimly wondered if this time around she would make it out alive.

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Kaede's scream sprinted through the school, shaking it from the sleep that had caught most of its students. Soon, the people within the building were gripped with a frenzy as teachers and students alike rushed from their classrooms in an effort to find where the noise came from. Even Inuyasha left his maths tests (in which we are all sure he was doing abysmally).

An Kikyou watched all of this from under a tree.

She was sure that by the time they all found her, the mist would have cleared and all trace of the soul collectors would be gone. It mattered little to her if there were traces anyway, for they all led to nowhere. The soul collectors, she assumed, were immaterial, living in a different realm and untraceable from the realm in which they lived. She studied them; she had concluded that what she saw was not the real thing, but a mere image of sorts: she had no idea how to word it, but she knew from interactions that they could not be touched, almost as if they weren't real.

Looking down in her hand, she held the bloodied remnants of the old woman's eye. By normal standards it wasn't much but mangled tissue, but when she felt the charge of miko surging from it, she knew it would suffice. Focussing her mind on it, she closed her eyes and wrapped her fingers around it, squeezing it until she felt the miko drain back into her body.

When she looked into her hand, all that remained was dust red with crystallised blood. She hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do with it when the wind blew it away. She tried to follow it with her eyes for a moment and then satisfied, got up and left. It wasn't quite the end of school but she couldn't be bothered: she had no more business there for the day. And as she left her seat by the tree, she was blissfully unaware of Naraku's eyes watching her from his office window.

"Yes, that's it Kikyou. Enjoy the fattening while it lasts but don't worry…the slaughter is soon to come."

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Hikaru M.: I'm not particularly pleased with this chapter (I almost forgot about Inuyasha completely!) but hopefully next chapter will be better. Hopefully, I'll be able to start with the romance parts soon from now, cuz it's getting just a little too heavy and Kikyou-centric for my liking. It seems that all that time on hiatus has made me a little rusty but never fear! I'll try to rectify the problem as soon as possible and start focussing on specific pairings (I'm looking forward to writing a complicated KikxInuxKag part in the Chronicle of Rin's plan arch in the fic). So…when will Kagome and Inuyasha begin to notice each other? When will Kikyou die? How's Kagome coping with the death of her dad? Is there something going on between Kitai and Miroku that Kouga needs to be jealous of? Well, obviously the answer to that last one is no but…the answers to these questions and many more (like "is she ever going to finish this fic?") will come in future chapters so stay tuned!


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